Monitoring Long-term Change in Land Usage Patterns Using High Resolution Remote Sensing Technologies

American University, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

This research examines the impacts of variation on land use, land value, and management using remote mixed qualitative methods and high-resolution remote sensing techniques. The investigators use a longitudinal research design that integrates qualitative research with remote sensing technology to track changes and human adaptations to land usage over time. Broader impacts of the research produce concrete impacts for communities, the development of tools for stakeholders to assess change, and training workshops for students and communities in the use of high-resolution, remote-sensing tools. Investigators employ a novel, technology-based approach for data collection that is appropriate for regions that are difficult to access. The research team has the capacity to provide a model for how a time series analysis of Landsat and high resolution PlanetScope imagery can be utilized to study land use and land management and how these can be integrated with remote ethnography. It meets the key NSF priorities of NSF investments in biotechnology and AI as it contributes to scientific discovery that expands the science of how living things and their components can create tools and stakeholder assessments that benefit society. The use of high-resolution technological tools has the capacity to provide a model for the integration of social science research, with AI and technological innovations. This project is co-funded by the NSF Cultural Anthropology and the Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences Programs. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.