Scale Issues in Remote Sensing: A Review on Analysis, Processing and Modeling <s> Notions of scales <s> Scale and resolution have long been key issues in geography. The rapid development of analytical cartography, GIS, and remote sensing (the mapping sciences) in the last decade has forced the issues of scale and resolution to be treated formally and better defined. This paper addresses the problem of scale and resolution in geographical studies, with special reference to the mapping sciences. The fractal concept is introduced, and its use in identifying the scale and resolution problem is discussed. The implications of the scale and resolution problem on studies of global change and modeling are also explored. <s> BIB001 </s> Scale Issues in Remote Sensing: A Review on Analysis, Processing and Modeling <s> Notions of scales <s> Preface. 1. Introduction. 2. Upscaling. 3. Downscaling. 4. A simple DSS for upscaling and downscaling. Appendix: Random Variables and Stochastic Functions. Glossary. References. Index. <s> BIB002
In the field of scientific research, scale is often one of most involved terminologies. The scale can refer both to the magnitude of a study (e.g., its geographic extent) and also to the degree of detail (e.g., its level of geographic resolution)  . There are several terms that share the same meaning with observation scale that describe the detail, such as resolution, grain, support and so on. With remote sensing, scale might be resolution and can be thought of as the smallest objects being distinguished by sensors. For ecology, scale is likely to be grain, which is the measured size of patches. To environmental research, scale could be support, the largest area or time interval in which the parameter of interest is homogeneous BIB002 . To cartography, scale may be defined simply as the ratio between distance on the map and on the ground. There is much confusion and abuse concerning the term "scale" and it is necessary to identify the meaning of this word. Lam and Quattrochi BIB001 and Cao et al.  pointed out that at least four meanings of scale can be identified within the spatial domain. They are the observation scale, the operational scale, the geographic scale and the cartographic scale. Bloschl and Sivapalan  and Bierkens et al. BIB002 proposed another two meanings of scale: the modeling scale and the policy scale, respectively. From analysis, modeling and demonstrating perspective, scale needs to be divided into at least such six types. Here are the definitions used by the authors   BIB001 BIB002 with some modifications combined. Table 1 shows a comparison of the six meanings of scale used in various fields of scientific research. The measurement units at which data is measured or sampled Referring to the description of resolution, time interval, spectral range, solid angle or polarization direction.