Preface

Geospatial Technology is one of the three emerging technologies in the 21^st century. Driven by societal and economical needs, Earth observation and remote sensing techniques are now in the frontiers of the geospatial technology, and are receiving an increased interest in the academic, government, industries, and beyond. China is a rapidly evolving nation in space and Earth observation technologies. Since the 1980s, a great progress has been made in optical, microwave, and hyperspectral remote sensing. In the meantime, dramatic changes in land use and land cover have occurred in China owing to rapid economic growth and urbanization over the past 30 years. Therefore, remote sensing and related technologies have been widely employed in recent years for assessing, monitoring, and analyzing ecosystems, environments, and resources. In the front of global change research, the complexity of global change and its interactions with human system pose significant challenges to the scientific community. Applied earth observations and remote sensing technologies with the capability for handling geospatial data and analysis of some complex systems have been extensively and effectively employed for understanding the problems of global change and for providing potential solutions.