Dr Stephen Fildes
Casual Academic Research
College of Science and Engineering
Stephen Fildes is a geospatial scientist with over 35 years’ experience in remote sensing, GIS, and environmental modelling, and more than 25 years in university teaching and program development. He was the lead developer and inaugural Director of Studies of the geospatial postgraduate programs (GradCert, GradDip and Master's) at Flinders University (2008-2016). His work focuses on the application of airborne and satellite remote sensing, GIS, and spatial modelling to environmental, natural resource, and water resource management, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions.
He has collaborated extensively with government agencies, industry partners, and researchers from a broad range of disciplines. His work has spanned applications across archaeology, urban, peri-urban, and human geography, coastal and terrestrial ecology, landscape change and condition assessment, vegetation composition and species mapping, and more recently the modelling of surface-groundwater interactions, groundwater-dependent ecosystems, and groundwater potential.
He is currently involved in geospatial groundwater exploration research through Flinders University and the National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training (NCGRT).
- PhD (Geospatial Sc.) (UniSA) (2025)
- MSc (Spatial Info. Sc.) (UniAdel) (2005)
- GDipGISRS (GIS & Remote Sens.) (UniAdel) (1996)
- AssDipAppSc (Cartography) (SAIT & UniSA) (1992)
- CSIRO Research Scholarship (2020)
- Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship (2019)
- Asia-Pacific Spatial Education Award (SA) for Education Development (2017)
- South Australian Spatial Tertiary Research and Development Award (2005)
- First place grade honour for Postgraduate Diploma in GIS & RS Thesis (1996)
- Australian Institute of Cartographers Award (Outstanding Student Medal) (1992)
Academic
- Director of Studies, Postgraduate Programs in GIS (2008 - 2016)
- Lecturer in Remote Sensing and Geospatial Science (1999 - 2016)
- Member of the Postgraduate GIS and Bach. of App. GIS Course Management Committees
Technical
- Geospatial Analyst (Remote Sensing, GIS and Cartography) (1993 - 2016)
I'm an educator in Geospatial Science and its application across a range of human and natural environments with a particular focus on terrestrial remote sensing, digital image analysis, knowledge- and data-driven GIS modelling. Topic areas include:
- Remote Sensing of the Environment (flood and impervious surface mapping; landscape dynamics, land cover change and condition)
- Digital Image Analysis in Remote Sensing (development and adaptation of image analysis techniques)
- Remote Sensing Project Planning
- Geographical Information Systems
- Mapping Sciences and Cartography
More than just an Earth observation and monitoring tool, remote sensing derived information is often integrated with GIS to provide an important decision support system for management of human and natural resources. A primary focus of my teaching is to arm students with skills that synergize remote sensing and GIS technologies across a range of applications and disciplines, and thus arm students with skills of vocational value that meet current and growing needs of potential employers.
Professional Activities/Affiliations
- Member, Geospatial Council of Australia
- Member, Surveying and Spatial Sciences Institute (SSSI) (2009- 2022)
- Member, SA Government Spatial Imagery Committee (2011 - 2016)
- Map competition judge, Surveying and Spatial Sciences Conference (2009)
- Presenter, SSSI's Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Commission (SA Division), Professional Development Seminars
Community Activities
- Custom-designed Spatial Information Workshops and Mentoring, including GIS for High School Teachers; Differential GPS for Schools; ArcGIS for Public Health Professionals; Flinders University Enrichment Program: Introduction to GIS and Remote Sensing (senior secondary students); Flinders University Environment Day: Environmental Change Detection using Remote Sensing (senior secondary students)
Selected Remote Sensing Links
Data Providers
- Geoscience Australia Data and Publications
- ASTER data
- USGS Global Visualization Viewer
- USGS Earth Explorer
- TERN Data Portal
- CSIRO Data Portal
- Data.SA
- Research Data Australia
- data.gov.au
- data.sa.gov.au
External Educational Resources
- NASA's Remote Sensing Tutorial
- The Remote Sensing Core Curriculum
- The WWW Virtual Library Remote Sensing
- Virtual Geography Department
- Other Remote Sensing Information
Imaging Spectrometry
- AVIRIS Homepage
- OKSI's Directory of Imaging Spectrometry
- USGS Spectroscopy Lab
- Wim Bakker's imaging spectrometry links
Research
- Airborne Research Australia
- CSIRO Land and Water
- CSIRO Marine Research
- Canada Centre for Earth Onbservation and Mapping - RS Tutorial
- Terrestrial Ecosystems Research Network (TERN)
- TERN - AusPlots
Satellite and Sensor Information
Software Providers
- eCognition
- IDRISI Software (Clark Labs)
- Hexagon (ERDAS IMAGINE)
- ESRI Australia (ArcGIS and ENVI software)
Just for Fun...
Sturt Rd, Bedford Park
South Australia 5042
South Australia | Northern Territory
Global | Online
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