Integration of remotely sensed satellite images with a geographical information system

Abstract The basic data structures of a vector-based Geographical Information System (GIS) and a remotely sensed satellite image are different as the latter are in raster format. Availability of large amounts of data on both of these formats, and the potential of their combined use in environmental applications gives rise to the need for both efficient and effective data integration techniques. A new methodology is presented in this paper to integrate remotely sensed raster images with vector data in a GIS and vice versa. This methodology has been implemented successfully and demonstrated as an efficient tool for the integration of both fine and coarse resolution remotely sensed images in a GIS.