ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the importance of the human interpreter in processing remote sensing data. It focuses on literature from both remote sensing and cognitive psychology. The chapter illustrates the nexus of the areas with a demonstration experiment examining novice/expert differences in the interpretation of aerial thermograms. Remote sensing scientists are well aware of problems, and as a result the field of remote sensing has become a unified discipline devoted to the development of tools to facilitate interpretation by humans and to create tools for automated interpretation of images. Even if most image analysis is ultimately conducted by machine, humans will continue to make the important interpretations, and make decisions based on the interpretations. The ultimate purpose of all the technology of sensors and information processing systems is to support the human interpretation of data to derive meaning and make decisions on the basis of the interpretation. Interpreters of archived satellite imagery face some difficulties.
