LAHORE: According to the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) chairman Dr Umar Saif, Pakistan has become the first country in the world to use multi-spectral imagery through a remote sensing satellite to prepare maps of crop type and acreage.
The technology will be used with a 10-meter resolution through UK Satellite Sentinel 2 A to determine the type and health of crops, moisture in the soil and to predict the quantum of production, Dr Saif, the chairman of Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB), reported the Express Tribune.
The use of satellites is advantageous as it can generate a systematic and repetitive coverage of a large area and provide information about the health of the vegetation.
Dr Saif further said that Pakistan would no longer depend on foreign assistance for crop mapping. In the past, the process required the use of android phones to report GPS location as Google gives three-meter resolution in black and while Satellite Sentinel 2 A, which passes over Pakistan space once in a week.
We should appreciate the efforts, and it should have been done many many years ago But please don’t embarrass our nation in the world by saying Pakistan become the first country. Many Countries are using Multispectral satellite imagery to monitor crops since 1972 after the launch of LANDSAT. Please change the title of this article. It should be like Pakistan is using multispectral imagery to map crops finally. Not the first country to use.
Remote-sensing/spectral imaging has been used in the USA for many decades. This claim that Pakistan is the first country is in error.