The use of satellite data for regional planning

The experience of the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments in its development of a regional land use inventory from computer processing of LANDSAT 1 digital tapes and the use of those data in the OKI water quality planning program are discussed. A major part of the planning program is the prediction of water quality in rivers and lakes resulting from existing and future land uses. A model has been developed that can predict the flow of sediment, total phosphorus, total nitrogen, and organic wastes into major streams. An essential input to this model is an accurate map of land use derived from LANDSAT 1 digital tapes.