The natural resources inventory of Kalimantan Timur has proven the value of remote sensing techniques as an approach to a modern resources inventory. Under the given conditions of poorly accessible, heavily vegetated areas, the limitations of knowledge, and time and fund restrictions, there was practically no other choice. In the case of the Kalimantan Timur resources exploration, the combination of the three different techniques turned out to be very advantageous. Besides, it was one of the few instances in the world so far, where SLAR surveys have been carried out.
Each of the three described survey methods is a different technology which can be used independently from others, and each of these has its advantages for a broad variety of qualitative and quantitative applications and purposes, depending on the accuracy expectations and the necessities of a project. It is very important to define in advance the specific tasks and the quality to be accomplished by remote sensing so that the cost/time factors and the technical procedures can be fitted to the optimal approach of the investigations. It also needs to be emphasized that the required scale influences the instrumental and technical methods to be chosen but also the costs and duration of any type of inventory. One of the major advantages of remote sensing is the capability of procuring next to any kind of earth resources data in any region of the world at extremely low costs per unit area in a relatively short time.
For the implementation of any project, conventional terrestrial surveys may still be necessary to some extent. However, they can be reduced to a minimum or concentrate on specific tasks or areas, where their application is inevitable.