A future vision for the development of applications of remote sensing and geographic information systems in the geomorphology of dry lands

This study reveals the future perspective trends of applications of remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) in the geomorphological studies of the dry lands. The importance of the present study comes in identifying recent trends in methods of collecting, processing and analyzing spatial data for geomorphological study in dry lands in light of the tremendous development of remote sensing techniques and GIS. The study provides a future perspective to maximize the benefit of these technologies. The study followed based on a comprehensive survey within the prestigious international, foreign and specialized Arab periodicals in the period from 2000 to 2021, in order to identify recent trends and topics of interest, and reveals the progress made by geomorphological studies in dry lands using remote sensing and GIS techniques. Then the study classified the scientific research according to the most common topics and interests, and presented a quantitative analysis relied on the descriptive approach in analyzing the content of a number of them. After that, the study reviewed models from foreign and Arabic studies to find out the similarities and differences between them. Finally, the study presented a future perspective to the development of these studies in light of the development of modern spatial technologies and means of collecting and analyzing data through the expansion of the use of aerial photography, laser scanners, ground radar, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and spatial programming languages in interpreting remote sensing data and building geographical database and spatial models.