CE 701: Remote Sensing Technology Lab Exercise 1: Introduction To ERDAS Imagine
CE 701: Remote Sensing Technology Lab Exercise 1: Introduction To ERDAS Imagine
CE 701: Remote Sensing Technology Lab Exercise 1: Introduction To ERDAS Imagine
Lab Exercise 1
Introduction to ERDAS Imagine 2013 and Displaying
IRS and Landsat Images
Toolbars:
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File: It has the usual options like new, open, print, save, save as, configuration,etc.
New:
Map view: Used for creating maps. Contains all map elements like grids, scale bar, legend,
North arrow
2d- view: Displays raster, vector, and/or annotation data in a 2-dimensional View window
3d-view: Renders 3-dimensional DEMs (Digital Elevaition Model), raster overlays, and
vector feature layers
Open:
There are many types of files that can be opened using ERDAS. Some of the important types
are:
AOI layer: If we know the exact boundaries of our study area, we can extract the area (Area
of Interest) from the large image and process it.
Raster Layer: All satellite images are raster images. That is they consist of grids
Vector Layer: A vector file consists of various points, lines and polygons.
Three layer arrangement: this will open 4 different 2d-views to show the combination of 3
layers in one window and the individual bands in each of the other 3 views.
Spatial link: When this is activated, it means all the 2 d view windows are linked to each
other. Any change in zoom or pan in one window will also be reflected in other windows.
Home:
1. Contents: To show the hide the contents and retriever panels
2. Metadata: Metadata means data about the data. It will contain the information like
when the image was acquired, the calibration constants, sensor details etc for each
band.
General: It contains details like pixel size, the projection system, and basic
statistics of the data.
Projection: Contains the various parameters of the projection system used.
Histograms: They give the distribution of Digital Numbers or grey levels in
each band.
Pixel Data: It will give the value of digital number in each pixel.
3. Select: It helps in panning and zooming the image.
Select: Click to select items and to click on tools in the ribbon or select any
part of the Workspace.
Inquire: It is used to obtain individual pixel information
No. of bands
& which
band is
projected in
which colour
Actual
pixel
values
Look Up
Table
values
No of pixels in
the image that
have this pixel
value.
4. Measurement: Used to take measurements in the selected View. There are many
options: find positions of a point, polyline, rectangular area perimeter, ellipsoidal area
perimeter, polygon area perimeter,
5. Fit to frame: This is used to display the entire image in the 2d view.
6. Add views: In this, we can add more views to the workspace. There are options to
divide a view horizontally or vertically, displaying 2 or more views together, creating
a magnifier to view a small portion of the image.
7. Link views:
Spectral Linkis used to link the same types of data in all open Views to the
active View in order to make contrast and brightness enhancements to the
data. The data must be the same type, such as multispectral to multispectral,
or panchromatic to panchromatic.
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Manage data
1. Image catlog:The Image Catalog is a database for managing raster image information
and selecting files geographically
2. Coordinate calculator: The Coordinate Calculator enables you to convert ground
control coordinates from one map projection, spheroid, or datum to another.
3. Import data: This dialog allows you to convert raster and vector datasets from
external formats to internal formats directly usable by ERDAS IMAGINE.
4. Export data: This dialog allows you to convert raster and vector datasets from
internal formats directly usable by ERDAS IMAGINE to external formats suitable
for use by other software packages.
5. Feature exchange:It is used for extracting, transforming and loading feature formats
6. Pixels to ASCII:It converts pixel values to ASCII values
7. ASCII to Pixel: It converts ASCII table or matrix to pixels
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8. ASCII to Point Vector layer: Convert an ASCII file to vector file which can be used
in GIS softwares.
9. Rater to Shapefile: Convert classes and features in a raster layer to shapefile (vector)
10. Vector to Raster: Convert vector features to raster classes
11. Image: Contains tools to edit the metadata and compute various statistics based on the
image
12. Office tools: To export your image or map to Word/ Powerpoint or as jpeg.
tab appears on the menu bar when you load a true color image into a View. The
Multispectral tab is grouped into the following categories:
Enhancement : Contrast stretching, histogram equalization, Std. Dev. Stretch,
Brightness: Contrast: Photography enhancements, piecewise contrast, data scaling
Sharpness : Dynamically adjust the sharpness, filtering, edge detection,
smoothening
Bands :Spectral selector-select from list of band combination for specific sensor
also select the colour assigned to each band
View: Resampling methods, setting pixel transparency
Utilities: Subsetting, masking, profiling
Transform & OrthoCorrect
Edit: Many edit options. Refer the software for all options
18. Insert Map Element: Gives all the tools required for making a map like opening map
view, map grids, scale bare, legend, North arrow, adjusting font size, arranging all the
elements of a map
19. Format: Contains the same options as in edit tool
20. Table: Attribute tables for vector and annotation layers can be opened and edited
using tools in the Table tab. The Table tab is grouped into the following
categories:
View : Shows the attribute table for a image.
Drive : To navigate in a table.
Column : Select a column, deselect, add a new column
Row : Select a row, deselect, add a new row
Query : Arranging the table, manipulating the colours
Edit
VECTOR:
Contains commands to save a vector file, rename it, reproject it to a new projection, compute
zonal statistics (This dialog enables you to extract the zonal statistics of the background
image of a polygon coverage and save them as polygon attributes.), subsetting a shapefile,
recalculate the elevation (transform the height of a 3d shapefile from one data to another)
TERRAIN
1. Terrain preparation tool: Use the Terrain Prep Tool to combine existing DTMs
into one DTM, divide a DTM into several DTMs, or create a raster surface from a
DTM.
2. Anaglyph: Sometimes seeing an image in 3D makes it much easier to interpret the
data and to pick out the details, such as the comparative height of neighboring
peaks and where the valleys run. The Anaglyph Generation tool provides a simple
means of producing a color anaglyph simulation of the terrain in 3D using a DEM
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TOOLBOX
1. Model Maker:Creates algorithm to assemble flowcharts of various processes
2. SteroAnalyst:Starts application to collect 3d information from stero pairs
3. Maps:Helps in composing a map
4. Virtual GIS:Helps in recording of 3d scenes for 3d viewing
A satellite image is always associated with an image and a metadata file. The image file
contains pixel information and metadata describe the important characteristics of image
files, such as the longitude and latitude, coordinate system, projection method, sensor
mode, orbit number. All metadata are extracted from the image files or header file. Based
on the image metadata, users can determine whether the remote sensing images satisfy
their requirements.
Metadata is essential for processes like georeferencing the image, atmospheric correction.
Exercise:
The objective of this exercise to open a satellite image and its metadata file. Then to study the
various parameters in metadata.
LANDSAT 7 image
Landsat images are freely available for download. The data is Level-1 processed with the
following parameters
1. Open ERDAS Imagine 2014. The opening window will have a 2D View window and a
contents panel. If the 2D view window is not there, got to File
New
2D
view.
2. Then in the contents panel, right click on 2D view #1 and from the drop down list select
Open Raster Layer.
3. Navigate to the folder containing Landsat data and select one band of Landsat image.
The folder consists of 8 bands on Landsat 7 and the metadata file (.mtl).
4. After opening the image in ERDAS, go to Metadata
View/Edit Image Metadata.
5. Go through each of values in the Window and Answer the questions given in the end of
the exercise.
IRS- LISS III
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Sometimes, we come across data types with ERDAS cannot directly open. In such cases,
the data has to be converted to .img format, which is ERDAS in built format. In this
case, the LISS III data is in generic binary format, which cannot be directly opened,
hence it has to be imported separately.
When the Import dialog box appears, do the following:
Set the input format to Generic Binary
Locate the Input file in the source directory.
As soon as you locate the input file, the system will automatically file in the Output file
with a *.img format. Make sure it will output to the appropriate directory.
When you are ready to import the image, select [OK]. Another menu will probably popup.
Fill in the details using the info from CDINFO file with Wordpad.
The click [OK] again to finish importing.
All the necessary information related to import the imagery can be found in the file
named CDINFO.
CDINFO file looks as below:
After entering the necessary values, click OK. Then open the .img file.
The metadata file for this image is named LEADER. Open this in Wordpad and Note
down the lat-long for the 4 corners and center pixel of the image. This information is
essential for georeferencing the image, which shall be done in the next class.
Assignment 1:
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