Abstract Knowledge of three-dimensional, subsurface fracture patterns is necessary to solve many military and engineering problems. An understanding of subsurface fracture patterns is also essential for the field army with respect to penetrability and weapons effects. Many areas of the world in which the army has an interest are inaccessible (denied areas), and analysis of remotely sensed imagery provides a way to get needed information. This chapter describes a method that provides the basis for three-dimensional characterization of fracture patterns using remotely sensed imagery. Analysis of fracture patterns in the Dartmoor granite of southwest England shows that lineations delineated on imagery are very long, widely spaced joints that are members of joint sets found in outcrop. There are no statistically significant differences in orientation between joints and lineations; the smaller image scale allows the more widely spaced and longer members of a given joint set to be seen. With these relations established, fractal analysis of joint and lineation patterns on Dartmoor granite and in the East Pioneer Mountains, Montana, was done to determine whether fractal geometry could be used to predict subsurface fracture patterns. On Dartmoor, mean fractal dimension for vertical joint sets from outcrop and lineation patterns from imagery were comparable, but this was not the case for the Pioneer granites. Further research must address the problem of predicting three-dimensional, subsurface fracture patterns using remotely sensed imagery prior to attempting to meet the needs of the field army in denied areas.