Abstract

Remote sensing is a technique used in scientific and technological approaches to geographical research. In the scientific approaches (of which the empirical are the most popular) the motivation is curiosity, the goal is knowledge and the methodology is often induction to derive theory and then deduction to verify theory. In the technological approaches the motivation is human need, the goal is the application of knowledge and the methodology is design. This review discusses both approaches, concentrating on the problems of taking a scientific approach and the unwillingness of geographers to accept an often more suitable technological approach. It is argued throughout that both types of approach can be valid, both can be useful and both are suitable methodologies for remote sensing in geography.