"This research was supported by funds for exploratory research from Project Air Force, the Arroyo Center, and the National Defense Research Institute"--Preface.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 51-58).

This Note presents a survey of remote sensing policy issues for the 1990s. The study concludes that as the utility of remote sensing data is more widely understood and appreciated, greater efforts to exploit that data in unique ways will increase, thus blurring the distinctions among users in the federal agencies, state and local governments, and private entities. It will then be up to the owners and operators of remote sensing systems to justify why their particular systems should remain unique. The study recommends that the U.S. government develop remote sensing policies from a more comprehensive perspective, derived from U.S. remote sensing goals, user needs, and the diverse organizations that can participate in meeting those needs; determine where broadening needs or new technologies allow planned programs to be better coordinated or consolidated to avoid duplication of effort; determine what areas are best pursued as public endeavors and as commercial or private ones; and make remote sensing systems more responsive to user needs.

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