Remote sensing data can help studies involving geological mapping, geological hazards and economic geology (i.e., exploration for minerals, petroleum, etc.). These geological studies commonly employ a multitude of tools classified according to short to long wavelengths of the electromagnetic radiation which various instruments are sensitive to. Shorter wavelengths are generally useful for site characterization up to mineralogical scale, while longer wavelengths reveal larger scale surface information, e.g. regional thermal anomalies, surface roughness, etc. Such techniques are particularly beneficial for exploration of inaccessible areas, and planets other than Earth. Remote sensing of proxies for geology, such as soils and vegetation that preferentially grows above different types of rocks, can also help infer the underlying geological patterns. Remote sensing data is often visualized using Geographical Information System (GIS) tools. Such tools permit a range of quantitative analyses, such as using different wavelengths of collected data sets in various Red-Green-Blue configurations to produce false color imagery to reveal key features. Thus, image processing is an important step to decipher parameters from the collected image and to extract information.
