ABSTRACT
This chapter illustrates the decision-making process concerning peacekeeping and disaster management. The primary limiting factor in using free low spatial resolution imagery is the availability of high speed download capacity. Images can range from a few megabytes to more than 300 megabytes for multi-band MODIS images. The instruments most useful for the kind of ground monitoring required for peacekeeping and disaster monitoring are primarily MODIS, and to some extent ASTER. Geometric treatment may be a problem in some images, but is increasingly automated. It is less of a problem in low spatial resolution images where high geometric precision is less possible anyway. Low spatial resolution imagery is readily available with free access. The main constraint to its use in the field or in remote areas is rapid web data connection. This imagery has the great advantage of providing sufficient spatial detail for many peacekeeping applications, while having very high temporal resolution needed for near real time monitoring and tracking change.
