Using Open Source Programming with Satellite

Imagery

Claire Porter
Polar Geospatial Center
University of Minnesota

1. Electro-optical high-resolution commercial satellite imagery

2. PGCs open source approach: GDAL and Python
3. Applications to other datasets

high-res imagery
High-resolution Commercial Satellite Imagery in ice-covered regions

0.5m 4m resolution
1 to 8 electro-optical bands
Passive sensors
High temporal resolution

high-res imagery

overland traverses

Fuel Cache

Imagery 2011 Digital Globe, Inc.

field camp monitoring

Imagery 2012 Digital Globe, Inc.

icebreaker operations

Icebreaker

McMurdo Station
1000 m
Imagery 2012 Digital Globe, Inc.

landing site reconnaissance

landing site reconnaissance

geologic mapping

100 m

Imagery 2012
Digital Globe, Inc.

emperor penguin census

Imagery 2012
Digital Globe, Inc.

weddell seal counts

elevation from stereoscopic images

feature tracking

200m

imagery challenges
Challenges of the imagery
Organization

Over 500,000 images in polar regions

Cataloging and space requirements

Format

Basic spatial location not terrain corrected

Uncorrected DN values
16 bit
NITF format

open source tools

GDAL and Python

Open source and freely available

Large user base, well established and well maintained

GDAL

Libraries and standalone utilities

Built with C++
Becoming incorporated into other GIS packages
Both raster and vector libraries
Very good coordinate system support
Bindings to Python, Ruby, Java, .NET, Perl, etc.

Python

GDAL Python bindings include Numpy/Scipy

Benefits of GDAL with intuitive Python language

open source tools

What you can do:
Organization

Query rasters and vectors for geometry and metadata

Write info to a spatial database or vector format
Rename and archive imagery

Manipulation

Orthorectify, project, and manipulate imagery

Stack bands, pan-sharpen, mosaic, or subset multiple images
Run the package on a linux cluster for batch processing
Easily schedule cron jobs for repeat updates

imagery catalog

Example 1: PGC imagery catalog

imagery processor
Example 2: PGC image orthorectification script
Input Image

VRT

DEM (optional)

RPCs (if external)

gdalwarp : orthorectify with RPCs

Reflectance Info

gdal_translate and gdal_merge or VRT:

rescale and stretch

gdal_translate: write to output format

gdaladdo: compute pyramids (if geoTiff)

Output Image

radiometric correction

radiometric correction

radiometric correction

Imagery Copyright Geoeye, Inc.

mosaics

pan-sharpening

Imagery Copyright 2011 Digital Globe, Inc.

GDAL script by Dan Stahlke, GINA

pan-sharpening

Imagery Copyright 2011 Digital Globe, Inc.

GDAL script by Dan Stahlke, GINA

other applications
Mosaics, Reprojection, and Subsetting: Rapidice.org