A remote sensing software is a

software application Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

that processes

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring information about Earth ...

data. Remote sensing applications are similar to

graphics software In computer graphics, graphics software refers to a program or collection of programs that enable a person to manipulate images or models visually on a computer. Computer graphics can be classified into two distinct categories: raster graphics a ...

, but they enable generating

geographic Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

information from satellite and airborne

sensor A sensor is a device that produces an output signal for the purpose of sensing a physical phenomenon. In the broadest definition, a sensor is a device, module, machine, or subsystem that detects events or changes in its environment and sends ...

data. Remote sensing applications read specialized file formats that contain sensor image data, georeferencing information, and sensor

metadata Metadata is "data that provides information about other data", but not the content of the data, such as the text of a message or the image itself. There are many distinct types of metadata, including: * Descriptive metadata – the descriptive ...

. Some of the more popular remote sensing file formats include: GeoTIFF, NITF,

JPEG 2000 JPEG 2000 (JP2) is an image compression standard and coding system. It was developed from 1997 to 2000 by a Joint Photographic Experts Group committee chaired by Touradj Ebrahimi (later the JPEG president), with the intention of superseding the ...

ECW (file format) ECW (Enhanced Compression Wavelet) is a proprietary wavelet compression image format used for aerial photography and satellite imagery. It was developed by Earth Resource Mapping, which is now owned by Intergraph, part of Hexagon AB. It is a lo ...

MrSID MrSID (pronounced Mister Sid) is an acronym that stands for ''multiresolution seamless image database''. It is a file format (filename extension ''.sid'') developed and patented by LizardTech (in October 2018 absorbed into Extensis) for encoding of ...

, HDF, and

NetCDF NetCDF (Network Common Data Form) is a set of software libraries and self-describing, machine-independent data formats that support the creation, access, and sharing of array-oriented scientific data. The project homepage is hosted by the Unidata ...

. Remote sensing applications perform many features including: * Change Detection — Determining the changes from images taken at different times of the same area *

Orthorectification An orthophoto, orthophotograph, orthoimage or orthoimagery is an aerial photograph or satellite imagery geometrically corrected ("orthorectified") such that the scale is uniform: the photo or image follows a given map projection. Unlike a ...

— Warping an image to its location on the earth * Spectral Analysis — For example, using non-visible parts of the

electromagnetic spectrum The electromagnetic spectrum is the range of frequencies (the spectrum) of electromagnetic radiation and their respective wavelengths and photon energies. The electromagnetic spectrum covers electromagnetic waves with frequencies ranging from ...

to determine whether a forest is healthy * Image Classification — Categorizing pixels based upon reflectance into different land cover classes (e.g. Supervised classification, Unsupervised classification and Object Oriented classification) Many remote sensing applications are built using common remote sensing toolkits, like

GDAL The Geospatial Data Abstraction Library (GDAL) is a computer software library for reading and writing raster and vector geospatial data formats (e.g. shapefile), and is released under the permissive X/MIT style free software license by the Ope ...

an
OSSIM

Examples of remote sensing software

* Geomatica, PCI Geomatics *

SAGA GIS System for Automated Geoscientific Analyses (SAGA GIS) is a geographic information system (GIS) computer program, used to edit spatial data. It is free and open-source software, developed originally by a small team at the Department of Physical G ...

(Open Source) *

TNTmips TNTmips is a geospatial analysis system providing a fully featured GIS, RDBMS, and automated image processing system with CAD, TIN, surface modeling, map layout and innovative data publishing tools. TNTmips has a single integrated system with ...

, MicroImages *

ERDAS IMAGINE Hexagon AB is a publicly listed global information technology company specializing in hardware and software digital reality that was founded in 1992 and headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Hexagon's B share is listed on the list of large companie ...

* ENVI *

Google Earth Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and geog ...

GRASS GIS ''Geographic Resources Analysis Support System'' (commonly termed ''GRASS GIS'') is a geographic information system (GIS) software suite used for geospatial data management and analysis, image processing, producing graphics and maps, spatial and ...

* OpenEV (Open Source) *

Opticks ''Opticks: or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light'' is a book by English natural philosopher Isaac Newton that was published in English in 1704 (a scholarly Latin translation appeared in 1706). (''Optick ...

(Open Source) *

Orfeo toolbox In computer science, Orfeo Toolbox (OTB) is a software library for processing images from Earth observation satellites. OTB was initiated by the French space agency (CNES) in 2006. The software is released under a free licence; a number of contri ...

(Open Source) *

RemoteView RemoteView is the family name of a group of software programs designed by Textron Systems Geospatial Solutions to aid in analyzing satellite or aerial images of the Earth's surface for the purpose of collecting and disseminating geospatial intell ...

* SOCET SET *

IDRISI TerrSet (formerly IDRISI) is an integrated geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing software developed by Clark Labs at Clark University for the analysis and display of digital geospatial information. TerrSet is a PC grid-based syste ...

ECognition Cognition Network Technology (CNT), also known as Definiens Cognition Network Technology, is an object-based image analysis method developed by Nobel laureate Gerd Binnig together with a team of researchers at Definiens AG in Munich, Germany. I ...

ArcGIS ArcGIS is a family of client, server and online geographic information system (GIS) software developed and maintained by Esri. ArcGIS was first released in 1999 and originally was released as ARC/INFO, a command line based GIS system for manipul ...

SNAP Snap or SNAP may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Snap'', the original release title for the 2013 film ''Enter the Dangerous Mind'' *''Snap'' (TV series), a CITV programme * ''The Stanly News and Press'', a newspaper in Albemarle, North Carol ...

Examples of remote sensing software

See also

Further reading