Yale Remote Sensing Accelerator

The Yale Remote Sensing Accelerator (YRSA) is an intensive program designed for Yale affiliates (* Open to Yale members only) who want a first exposure to processing satellite imagery but may find it difficult to commit to a full semester-long course. Co-hosted by the Yale Center for Geospatial Solutions and the Yale Library, the program is offered in June. It is structured as an intermediate-level class for participants who already have some experience using GIS. 

Using a Guided Practice pedagogical strategy, participants will be given an introduction to tools for analyzing, manipulating, and visualizing satellite and aerial imagery. The focus will be on representing spatial information and generating analytic insights using the raster model of space. At the end of the Accelerator, participants will have a solid foundation in raster imagery and analysis, and will be able to:

• use ArcGIS Pro software to visualize and analyze imagery
• practice good data management
• use USGS Earth Explorer, NASA EarthData and Sentinel Online to download imagery 
• understand various criteria for choosing satellite imagery
• have a basic understanding of the electro-magnetic spectrum
• understand spectral signatures and compute spectral indices
• transform and combine layers of raster data
• perform image classification in ArcGIS Pro and evaluate its output
• calculate and visualize change over time 
• visualize imagery in 3D
• use Google Earth Engine (javascript environment) to visualize imagery
• use Google Earth Engine to perform some basic analyses

A working knowledge of GIS software is required for this program. This prerequisite can be satisfied by having completed a full-semester GIS course at Yale or the five-day GIS Accelerator program. Participants should be comfortably able to manipulate and symbolize spatial data in GIS, manage coordinate systems, and run geoprocessing tools. 

Exceptions may be made, on a case-by-case basis, for applicants who have some other strong preparation in GIS. It is possible to take both the GIS Accelerator and Remote Sensing Accelerator in the same year.

No prior formal training in computer programming is required. Participants will be asked to make an account with Google Earth Engine, using a personal (non-Yale) Google account.

Jill Kelly is the GIS instructor at the Yale School of the Environment. She has  also taught GIS at the Yale School of Public Health, the Yale School of Architecture, the Government Department of Harvard University, Harvard’s Center for Geographic Analysis, and the University of Pennsylvania’s Environmental Studies Program. Her research focuses on the development and application of GIS and other spatial methods in a broad diversity of applications. Jill is a geospatial generalist with interests in areal aggregation, raster analysis and the GIS ethics. Her dissertation research explored the spatial aggregation of lidar measurements in predicting spatially explicit estimates of forest biomass. Recent collaborations explore rainfall patterns in Syria, access to emergency care in Kenya, hurricane impact on US nursing homes, tick-borne illness in New England, climate risks of prisons, and socio-spatial health disparities. 

For any questions about this training, feel free to email: geospatialhelp@yale.edu

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