Geospatial Techniques in Land Resource Inventory and Management: A Review

Abstract

Available natural resources govern the basic development of any country. Among many; land and water resources are most important that support survival of individuals on the earth. Due to rapid increase in population, these resources are over stretched often leading depletion constantly. In recent times, geospatial techniques are being effectively used for more precise mapping and judicious management of land resources. Geospatial technology concerned with spatial information about features at a place or, in space, collected in real time. Geospatial techniques is the combination of Remote Sensing (RS), Geographic Information System (GIS), Global Positioning System (GPS), cartography, and spatial statistics that capture, store, manipulate and analyze to understand complex situations of environment and solve the problems for sustainable development. In the study an attempt has been made to review the application of geospatial techniques in land resource inventory, analysis, mapping and management. The review shows that these techniques have immense potential and being used in various aspects of land resources inventory such as digital terrain analysis, soil resource inventory, land use/land cover mapping, wastelands mapping, water resources and environmental management.