Remote sensing is increasingly being used in Queensland to support policy, planning and science activities. The Remote Sensing Centre within the Department of Environment and Resource Management currently undertakes three operational monitoring programs: The Statewide Landcover and Trees Study (SLATS) which maps annual tree cover change, the Queensland Land Use Mapping Program (QLUMP) and the groundcover monitoring program. These programs underpin the formation of new policies on vegetation management and are critical for identifying opportunities for carbon incentives. They are used in developing management agreements for the renewal of leases, are an important input for regional plans and are essential for identifying areas of high erosion risk in Great Barrier Reef catchments.

The availability of higher resolution imagery, synthetic aperture radar imagery and more frequently available medium resolution imagery creates significant opportunities for improved landscape assessment and monitoring. For example, frequently available Landsat imagery is showing considerable promise for the automated detection and mapping of burnt area ('fire scars') at a scale that could potentially support operational planning.

There are significant challenges associated with an increased frequency of imagery and the use of a greater variety of sensors. Imagery is not suitable for most operational monitoring applications until it has been geometrically and radiometrically corrected and cloud and shadow masked out. These corrections are fairly well developed and now largely automated for Landsat imagery. Automation is essential, as the resources required to manually correct an archive of imagery this large would be significant. However, the same level of corrections does not exist for other sensors such as SPOT 5 and IRS-P6. Research to develop these corrections is currently in progress and should be the highest priority for remote sensing teams that have an interest in landscape monitoring.