Advances in Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques: Applications for Environmental Monitoring and Spatial Decision-Making

Remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have become instrumental ininterpreting, controlling, and planning of human environment interaction. Developments in satellitephotographic technologies, UAV systems, cloud computing, and artificial-intelligence-based analytics havesignificantly improved the accuracy and timeliness of acquiring geospatial data. These three dimensions ofgeospatial applications are investigated in this paper including environmental monitoring in terms of casestudies and best practices; spatial decision-making in the urban and the rural domains, as well as examples ofthe challenges, opportunities, and future of the technologies. Based on a combination of land use mapping,climate change, disaster management, agricultural planning, the study illustrates the use of remote sensing andGIS in guiding sound policy making and conservation of valuable resources. Critical issues presented in thepaper include data privacy, interoperability, and capacity building, and although this has become less evident,there is an indication of opportunities in big data analytics, Internet of Things (IoT) integration, and 3D/4Dspatial model. The results highlight the transformative capabilities of geospatial technologies to move towardmore sustainable, equitable, and sustainable societies