Skylab-EREP studies in computer mapping of terrain in the Cripple Creek-Canon City area of Colorado

Multispectral-scanner data from satellites are used as input to computers for automatically mapping terrain classes of ground cover. Some major problems faced in this remote-sensing task include: (1) the effect of mixtures of classes and, primarily because of mixtures, the problem of what constitutes accurate control data, and (2) effects of the atmosphere on spectral responses. The fundamental principles of these problems are presented along with results of studies of them for a test site of Colorado, using LANDSAT-1 data.