Imagery in Action

Exercise
Access satellite data in ArcGIS Pro

Section 2 Exercise 1
August 12, 2021
 Imagery in Action

Access satellite data in ArcGIS Pro

Time to complete
20 minutes

Technical note
This course was developed with ArcGIS Pro 2.8 software. If you install the ArcGIS Pro 2.8.1
patch, your results may vary.
Software requirements
ArcGIS Pro 2.8

Introduction
Imagery analysis in ArcGIS extends beyond the capabilities of imagery web apps into desktop
applications, which are capable of advanced imagery analysis. The dynamic image services
that were available in the Landsat Viewer app are also available in ArcGIS Desktop products,
including ArcGIS Pro. ArcGIS Pro can be used to continue your water policy impact area
analysis and allow you access to additional capabilities that will yield more information about
your study area.
In ArcGIS Pro, you can still access ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World layers and use them as
layers in your analysis. ArcGIS Pro also allows you to add data from other sources on disk and
combine the imagery layers to further augment your study. In the first exercise, you used the
Landsat imagery layer in a web app to begin the process of quantifying vegetation areas. For
this exercise, you will continue the analysis with an additional imagery layer.
There are many different imagery layers available in ArcGIS Living Atlas. In addition to the
Landsat imagery layer, another popular imagery layer is the Sentinel-2 Views imagery layer.
This multispectral imagery layer is similar to the Landsat imagery layer but has a higher spatial
resolution than Landsat. Spatial resolution is another aspect of remotely sensed data that is
important to consider during your imagery analysis. Higher spatial resolution allows for
features to be more visible, and this additional detail can further refine the analysis.

Exercise scenario
In this exercise, you will continue your research as a GIS analyst researching the impact of
changes to water policy through identifying vegetation areas around Paradise Valley, Arizona.
You will use ArcGIS Pro to compare the vegetation area created with the Landsat imagery
layer with the Sentinel-2 Views imagery layer.

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Step 1: Confirm that your computer can run ArcGIS Pro

In this step, you will run a test to confirm that your computer can support ArcGIS Pro. Even if
you have ArcGIS Pro installed, you should confirm that it can support ArcGIS Pro 2.8.
Note: This test uses a third-party executable file. If you prefer not to run this test due to
security reasons, you can review the Common Questions or see ArcGIS Pro Help: ArcGIS Pro
2.8 system requirements.

a In a web browser, go to the Can You Run It? test (https://links.esri.com/CanYouRunIt).

b Click the Run Tech Check button.

c Follow the steps to open and run the test.

The site generates a report that lists the minimum requirements and identifies if your machine
meets these requirements.

d If your computer does not meet these requirements, check the Common Questions to
find links to complete the recommended updates, and then run the test again.
Note: If your computer does not meet the requirements, you may need to use a different
computer or update your graphics card. For more information, see ArcGIS Pro Help: Graphics
adapter resources.

e If your computer meets the requirements, save the report.

The MOOC team may ask you to share the report if you need help in later ArcGIS Pro
exercises.

Step 2: Install ArcGIS Pro

This MOOC uses ArcGIS Pro 2.8. You will install ArcGIS Pro 2.8 from ArcGIS Online.

a In a web browser, browse to the MOOC organization home page and, if necessary, sign
in.
Hint: Use the bookmark that you created in the previous section or go to www.arcgis.com
and use your MOOC credentials to sign in and access the MOOC organization home page.

b In the upper-right corner, click your account, and then click My Settings.

c On the left side of the page, under My Settings, click the Licenses tab.

d Under Licensed Products, locate ArcGIS Pro.

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e To the right of the software name, click Download.

The Download window opens.

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Note: You can run ArcGIS Pro in a different language by clicking the down arrow next to
English (Version 2.8) and choosing a different supported language. Keep in mind that this
course is taught in English, which means that all screen shots and exercises will use the
English version of ArcGIS Pro.

f Click Download.

g If the default download location does not have enough space,

you can change the location by following the steps in this How to Change the File
Download Location in Your Browser article (https://links.esri.com/
ChangeDownloadLocation | www.lifewire.com/change-the-file-download-
location-4046428).

h After the download completes, double-click the .exe file.

i Follow the installation instructions, accepting all defaults.

j When you are finished installing ArcGIS Pro, close your web browser.

Step 3: Create the file structure

In this step, you will create the file structure that you will use throughout the entire MOOC to
store exercise data.

a From your Windows taskbar, open File Explorer and browse to and select your C: drive.

b Click the Home tab, if necessary, and then click New Folder to create a new folder.
Note: You can also right-click in the white space, point to New, and choose Folder.

c For the folder name, type EsriMOOC and press Enter.

d Within this folder, create two more folders called Data and Projects.
The EsriMOOC folder should now contain two folders. These folders will be used to store the
exercise data and any projects that you start in ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Drone2Map.

Step 4: Sign in to ArcGIS Pro

In this step, you will use the course ArcGIS account to sign in to ArcGIS Pro. You will need to
use your course ArcGIS account to license ArcGIS Pro and access other software applications
used in the MOOC exercises.

a If necessary, start ArcGIS Pro, and in the top-right corner of ArcGIS Pro, click Sign In.

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Note: If you are already signed in to ArcGIS Pro with a different account, click Sign Out, and
then click Sign In.

b Sign in using the provided MOOC credentials that end in _iact.

Note: The course ArcGIS account user name and password are listed on the MOOC home
page under Lessons. The user name for this account ends with _iact (for example, jdoe_iact).

c Click Sign In.

d If you see an ArcGIS Pro Software Update Available notification, close the window.
Note: You will use ArcGIS Pro 2.8 for this MOOC.

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Step 5: Create an ArcGIS Pro project

a On the ArcGIS Pro Start page, under New, click Map to open a new map.
Note: If you have configured ArcGIS Pro to start without a project template or with a default
project, you will not see the Start page. On the Project tab, click New, and then click Map.

b In the Create A New Project dialog box, for Name, type WaterImpactPolicy.

c For Location, click the Browse button .

d Browse to the new C:\EsriMOOC folder that you created, click the Projects folder to select
it, and then click OK.

e Uncheck the option to create a new folder.

f Click OK to create the new project.

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Your ArcGIS Pro project opens with the Topographic map, called a basemap.
At the top of the app is the ArcGIS Pro ribbon. ArcGIS Pro uses this horizontal ribbon to
display and organize functionality into a series of tabs. On the Map tab is the Navigate group,
which provides the tools that you need to navigate the map. The default tool is the Explore
tool , which you can use to pan and zoom in and out of maps. To explore different areas of
the world on this basemap, you can pan the map by clicking your mouse and holding the click
while you move the map. When you pan a map with the mouse, the pointer becomes a hand.
You can zoom in or out of the map using the mouse wheel or by using the Fixed Zoom In
and Fixed Zoom Out buttons in the Navigate group.
To the left of the map is the Contents pane, which lists the layers that have been added to the
map. To the right of the map is the Catalog pane, which lists the items associated with this
ArcGIS Pro package—Maps, Toolboxes, Notebooks, Databases, Styles, Folders, and
Locations.

g If you do not see the Contents or Catalog panes, from the View tab, in the Windows
group, either click Contents or Catalog Pane .
To learn more about the ArcGIS Pro interface, see ArcGIS Pro Help: ArcGIS Pro user interface,
and to learn more about ArcGIS Pro projects, see ArcGIS Pro Help: Projects in ArcGIS Pro.

Step 6: Create a folder connection

In this step, you will create a folder connection in ArcGIS Pro that will allow you to access data
for the exercise.

a In the Catalog pane, from the Project tab, right-click Folders and choose Add Folder
Connection .

b In the Add Folder Connection dialog box, browse to C:\EsriMOOC, click the Data folder
to select it, and then click OK.

c In the Catalog pane, expand Folders to see the new folder connection.

d Right-click the Data folder and choose Add To New Projects.

This option will make the folder connection persist between different projects.

Step 7: Review previous study results

In this step, you will add the feature layer that shows the vegetation areas in Paradise Valley,
Arizona.

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a At the top of the Catalog pane, click the Portal tab.

Because you are signed in with the provided credentials, you will see the listing for My
Content in the ArcGIS Online organization for the MOOC. To see the data available in ArcGIS
Online, you will need to change the selection.

b Click the ArcGIS Online button to view the layers.

You will see imagery layers and feature layers listed in the contents. The type of layer is
indicated by different icons to the left of the name of each layer.

c In the Search ArcGIS Online field, type potential water owner:esritrainingsvc and press
Enter.

d Right-click the Potential Area For Water Policy feature layer and choose Add To
Current Map.
This layer was the study area polygon that you used to create the vegetation mask layer.

e Click the My Content button , and then locate and add your NDVI Mask For Water
Policy imagery layer to the map.

Note: This exercise uses the imagery layer that was created in a previous exercise. If you did
not complete the Section 1 exercise, then you can add the NDVI Mask For Water Policy
Solution layer provided by clicking the ArcGIS Online button and searching for ndvi mask
owner:esritrainingsvc.

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In ArcGIS, data can be shared between different apps to further analyze and share results. The
Landsat Viewer app uses layers from ArcGIS Online, which can also be added to ArcGIS Pro.

f At the top of the Catalog pane, click the Living Atlas button to see available layers.
The layers from ArcGIS Living Atlas will appear with an icon to indicate which type of layer
they are. At the top of the pane, there are options to sort, filter, and search for the desired
layer.

g Click the Filter button , expand Categories and Imagery, and then choose
Multispectral Imagery.

Note: Unlike the Living Atlas filter options, you can only choose one of these four options. In
Living Atlas, you could choose Temporal and Multispectral.

h At the top of the drop-down list, click Close.

The filtered results will reveal a list of imagery layers and web maps .

i In the Search Living Atlas field, type Landsat and press Enter.

j In the filtered results, right-click the Landsat GLS Multispectral imagery layer and choose
Add To Current Map.

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The Landsat imagery layer is added to the map. In the Contents pane, the new imagery layer
is added below the study area polygon feature layer but above the NDVI Mask imagery layer.
The visible map is controlled by the order of the layers in the Contents pane. If the desired
imagery layer is not visible, it is based on whether the layer's visibility is turned on (indicated
with a checked box next to the layer name) and whether it is higher in order than other
imagery layers.
In ArcGIS Pro, you can manipulate the band combinations similar to the way that you did in
the Landsat Explorer app with processing templates.
1. From your knowledge of band combinations, can you recall which renderer is being
used?

_______________________________________________________________________________

Hint: This renderer was also used in the Landsat Explorer app from the previous exercise.

k In the Contents pane, right-click the Landsat GLS Multispectral imagery layer and choose
Properties.
Note: You can also double-click a layer or map to open its properties.

l In the Layer Properties dialog box, click the Source tab and expand Raster Information.
2. How many bands are reported?

_______________________________________________________________________________

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The imagery layer contains all the raster bands for the Landsat image but only returns the
specific raster bands based on the selected processing template.

m Click the Processing Templates tab.

Visualization for imagery layers in ArcGIS Pro is controlled by which processing template is
selected. You can see that the Agriculture With DRA processing template has been selected
for this imagery layer.
For more information about processing templates, see ArcGIS Pro Help: Use processing
templates.

n Click the Processing Template down arrow to access the available options, and then
choose NDVI Colorized.

o Click OK.

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This processing template is a visualization indicating the NDVI values in a colormap just like
the Vegetation Index did in the Landsat Viewer app.

p Change the template back to Natural Color With DRA.

Hint: Double-click Landsat GLS Multispectral properties > Processing Template down arrow

q Reopen the properties of the Landsat GLS Multispectral imagery layer, and then from the
Source tab, expand Raster Information.

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3. What is the cell size reported in the properties?

_______________________________________________________________________________

Spatial resolution is measured by cell size and is defined as the dimension of area covered on
the ground and represented by a single cell. It affects the level of detail that can be seen
within a raster. Spatial resolutions can be considered high to low or coarse to fine. When the
cell size number is small, the raster has a high spatial resolution. The descriptions are relative
to each other and used for comparison when choosing imagery for your analysis. The layer
with the highest spatial resolution will be determined by comparing the spatial resolution of
each layer. For example, when comparing two different imagery layers, a raster with a cell size
of 1 meter is considered to have a high or fine spatial resolution when compared to a raster
with a cell size of 10 meters. However, both of these example rasters have a finer spatial
resolution than the Landsat layer (30 meters). In discussions about which imagery is more
appropriate for identifying a particular feature in a raster dataset, the spatial resolution
discussion is important because finer spatial resolutions can be more difficult to obtain and
generally have a higher file size, which can affect performance.
For more information about cell size and spatial resolution, see ArcGIS Desktop Help: Cell
size of raster data.

r Click OK to close the layer properties.

Now that you have reviewed the original vegetation area with the higher-resolution imagery,
you are ready to begin the process of refining the results using the higher-resolution imagery
layers.

Step 8: Use a Sentinel imagery layer in ArcGIS Pro

The initial investigation used Landsat imagery data with a spatial resolution of 30 meters. In
the next step of your analysis, you will use an imagery layer with a finer spatial resolution to
further refine the estimate of vegetation area. Using higher-resolution imagery can identify
areas not previously found and remove areas that have been misidentified.

a In the Catalog pane, view the available Living Atlas layers.

b In the search field, delete your previous search term, type sentinel, and press Enter.

c Right-click the Sentinel-2 Views imagery layer and choose Add To Current Map.

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The Sentinel-2 Views imagery layer displays in the Natural Color renderer by default. You can
see that the spatial resolution is much higher than the Landsat imagery layer.
The Sentinel-2 Views imagery layer is based on imagery data collected by the Sentinel-2
satellite. The Sentinel-2 satellite carries an optical instrument payload that samples 13 spectral
bands: four bands at 10-meter, six bands at 20-meter, and three bands at 60-meter spatial
resolutions. This imagery layer pulls directly from the Sentinel-2 on the Amazon Web Services
collection and is updated daily with new imagery.
For more information about the Sentinel-2 Views imagery layer, review the item page on
ArcGIS Online (https://links.esri.com/Sentinel-2 | https://arcgis.com/home/
item.html?id=fd61b9e0c69c4e14bebd50a9a968348c), or right-click the Sentinel-2 Views
imagery layer in the Contents pane and choose View Metadata to see the same information.

d Zoom in to the middle of the study area and focus on the lakes in the middle, as shown in
the following graphic.

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e In the Contents pane, select the Sentinel-2 Views imagery layer, if necessary.

f On the ribbon, click the Appearance tab.

g In the Compare group, click Swipe .

Your pointer will change in the map to a triangle, indicating that the Swipe tool is active.

h Click in the map on the left side and drag your click to the right side.

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The Landsat GLS Multispectral imagery layer will appear in contrast to the Sentinel-2 Views
imagery layer.
The difference in spatial resolution is visible as the Landsat layer looks much blurrier than the
Sentinel layer. The higher spatial resolution of the Sentinel layer allows the vegetation to be
more visible in the map.

i In the Contents pane, open the Sentinel-2 Views imagery layer properties, and then from
the Source tab, expand Raster Information.
4. What is the cell size reported for the layer?

_______________________________________________________________________________

j From the Processing Templates tab, change the Processing Template to Agriculture With
DRA and click OK.

k In the Contents pane, right-click WaterPolicyStudyArea and choose Zoom To Layer.

While the default renderer for the Sentinel-2 Views imagery layer may differ from the Landsat
GLS Multispectral layer, you can compare their views from a band combination perspective by
choosing the same processing template.

l In the Contents pane, select the NDVI Mask layer and drag it above the Sentinel-2 Views
imagery layer.

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m Update the processing template for the Sentinel-2 Views imagery layer to NDVI
Colormap.

n Zoom in to the middle of the map to view the overlap of the mask from the Landsat
imagery with the Sentinel-2 Views imagery layer.

o In the Contents pane, select the NDVI Mask layer, if necessary.

p On the Appearance table, in the Effects group, change the Transparency to 50% and
press Enter.

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In the zoomed-in view, you can see that the NDVI output within the masked area has varying
values. With the finer spatial resolution, it appears that vegetation area calculation will be
different if the Sentinel-2 Views imagery layer is used for analysis.

q In the Contents pane, turn off the visibility of the NDVI Mask.

r Change the Landsat GLS Multispectral renderer to NDVI Colorized.

s Select the Sentinel-2 Views imagery layer, and then use the Swipe tool to compare the
NDVI results.

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In this comparison, the spatial resolution differences are apparent. After reviewing the NDVI
results with your manager, you have decided that the next step in the vegetation area study
will be to use this Sentinel-2 Views data to refine the vegetation area measurement that you
created in the Landsat Viewer app.
Per the Terms of Use for the Sentinel-2 Views imagery layer, it is recommended not to use this
layer for production applications. So, to use this imagery data for your analysis, you will use an
imagery layer published by ArcGIS Image for ArcGIS Online in the next exercise to further
refine the vegetation area calculation.

t From the Map tab, in the Navigate group, click the Explore tool to deactivate the Swipe
tool.

u Save the project and keep ArcGIS Pro open for the next exercise.

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Answers to Exercise Questions

1. From your knowledge of band combinations, can you recall which renderer is being used?
The Agriculture band combination of 5,4,1 is being used by default.

2. How many bands are reported?

Three bands are reported.

3. What is the cell size reported in the properties?

The cell size is 30 meters.

4. What is the cell size reported for the layer?

The cell size is 10 meters.

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