The private sector: A global pool of technical talent for remote sensing training and program support

The growing global pool of highly trained, technical talent in the private sector throughout the world reflects the degree of maturation that remote sensing from air and space vehicles has undergone, especially during the past ten years. This has been further spawned by the US Government move to commercialize the Landsat system. The number of qualified technicians and scientists has grown in proportion to the amount of data that has become available for public and private use. Applications of the data have matured from research investigations to operational use in many disciplines and geographic areas. Private and public industry corporations have established their own image processing and analytical laboratories to ensure their competitive positions. This has been further enhanced by the simultaneous availability of lower cost, analytical computer systems. Training and operational project development remain prominent objectives.While these are all very positive aspects a note of caution must be raised. Concern has recently been expressed by representatives of developing nations that not enough attention is given by remote sensing specialists to spelling out the limitations of the sensing systems or qualifying the degree of accuracy of the results obtained. Such criticisms are probably justified and it is recommended that remote sensing workers be mindful of such concerns.