TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES USED FOR REMOTE SENSING
The Sentinel Toolbox.
QGIS Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin (SCP).
ORFEO Toolbox (OTB): Optical and Radar Federated Earth
Observation.
GRASS: Geographic Resources Analysis Support System.
PolSARPro.
gvSIG.
ILWIS
OSSIM
1. The Sentinel Toolbox
The Sentinel Toolbox consists of 3 separate applications:
Sentinel-1 Toolbox (SAR applications)
Sentinel-2 Toolbox (High-resolution optical applications)
And Sentinel-3 Toolbox (High resolution optical applications)
Sentinel-2 has a standard for open satellite data. Data collected by
sentinel -2A/2B, users can use the sentinel toolbox.
2. QGIS Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin (SCP)
QGIS is one of the most powerful opensource GIS
software packages available for free. And plugins are the key its
success.
In terms of remote sensing plugins, the semi-automatic classification
plugin is one of the best. It’s especially useful because you can
download satellite imagery directly in the plugin such as:
Sentinel
Landsat
ASTER and MODIS
Furthermore, it also provides tools for its pre-processing and post-
processing of imagery.
3. ORFEO Toolbox (OTB): Optical and Radar Federated
Earth Observation
In 2001, France and Italy started a cooperative project for remote
sensing software. Built on the shoulders of the open-source
community, they called it the ORFEO toolbox and it’s still widely
used to this day.
ORFEO is an image processing library aims at high spatial resolution
data. It’s a mixed bag of remote sensing tools including:
Image segmentation, classification and filtering
Change detection
Radiometry, PCA and pan sharpening
One big plus is its “Large-Scale Mean-Shift segmentation (LSMC)”.
This type of object-based image analysis is a rare feature seen in
software nowadays.
4. GRASS: Geographic Resources Analysis Support System
GRASS GIS is full of functionality. Admittedly, it’s a bit clunky at
times as we’ve shown in our review for GRASS GIS. But it’s not
short on tools. For example, it offers:
Image classification and PCA
Edge detection
Radiometric corrections
Another key feature of GRASS is the LiDAR processing and
analysis. You can filter LiDAR points, create contours and generate
Dems.
5. PolSARPro
For synthetic aperture radar, you may want to look
into PolSARPro. This software can handle dual and full polarization
SAR from satellites like:
ENVISAT-ASAR
ALOS-PALSAR
RADARSAT-2
TerraSAR-X
There’s a wide range of tools like radar decompositions, InSAR
processing, and calibration. Another neat part of this software is the
graph processing framework where users can automate workflow.
This functionality is similar to ArcGIS ModelBuilder and easy to set
up.
Overall, PolSARPro is a very sophisticated open-source remote
sensing software.
6. gvSIG
gvSIG is known for its wide variety of rich features. And this applies
to its remote sensing capabilities too. For example, users can perform
supervised classification, band algebra and decision trees.
On top of that, gvSIG software delivers a more diverse range of tools
like:
TASSLED CAP: Tassled Cap is ideal for monitoring
vegetation health/vigour and urban growth.
VEGETATION INDICES: The vegetation indices toolbar
analyses chlorophyll and plant health for multispectral data.
7. ILWIS: Integrated Land and Water Information System
For more than 25 years, ILWIS has become a popular option for GIS
enthusiasts. Actually, since its first release it has over 27,000
downloads. But it wasn’t until recently that it has become available
for public use.
One of its key features is its stereoscopy, anaglyph, and
photogrammetry tools. If you have satellite data, ILWIS also
has image classification techniques to create land cover classes.
ILWIS was originally built for researchers and students. For this
reason, the effort was concentrated on developing a user-friendly
environment.
8. OSSIM: Open-Source Software Image Map
Not only has it been actively developed for almost two decades but
interesting enough, it’s being funded through US departments such as
in intelligence and Défense.
OSSIM is a high-performance open-source remote sensing software
application. It’s good with compatibility. For example, it’s compatible
with over 100 raster and vector formats and at least 4000 types of
projections.
It supports a long list of sensors. But some may require additional
plug-ins. If you need some remote sensing direction for high spatial
resolution imagery, OSSIM might be the answer you have been
searching for.
