Data sources for land use survey

The article outlines the various ways of conducting land use surveys. A detailed historical account of the development from topographical survey is given and the various stages in the process are outlined and assessed. The three methods currently in use — ground survey, air survey and satellite survey — are carefully analysed. The ways in which recent rapid technological change has already affected the science of land use survey are emphasized, along with the various exciting possibilities currently under investigation; several limitations of even the most advanced methods are however pointed out, as no single method would appear totally satisfactory in isolation from all other available methods.