Easily use imagery within your GIS
ER Mapper algorithms process and display your image, without using valuable disk space. With ER Mapper 6.0 there is no limit to the image processing power of your GIS.Distribute compressed imagery
Free plugins in ER Mapper 6.0 allow GIS/CAD/Office users to view ER Mapper images from within their applications and distribute plugins with the data for easy viewing.
The compression wizard achieves rates of up to 50:1 for color imagery.
Each plugin contains the complete ER Mapper processing engine.
Enterprise wide
imagery
• Wizards • Map production • 3D presentations • Annotation • Orthophoto • Surface gridding • Contouring • Image mosaicing • Data compression • Geocoding • Spatial analysis • Raster to vector
• Land use classification • Data integration • Image analysis • Radar processing • Fast Fourier Transforms
Download free GIS plugins today from our web site www.ermapper.com
59.4Mb
Image
Compressed to
ER Mapper — The enterpr
ER Mapper — The enterpr
“It was the cheapest and best option for airphoto mosaicing.” -- Jim Mitchell, Crazy Mountain
“ER Mapper is perfect for handling our aerial images, mosaicing, enhancements, and rectification...It is a vast improvement on anything I’ve used in the past.”
-- Mario Gismondi, Survey Graphics
1.
1.
Prepare imagery in ER Mapper
Whether you’re mosaicing two airphotos or hundreds, nothing gets results quicker or easier than ER Mapper. Place your images in the real world using the most extensive database of coordinate systems and map projections. ER Mapper offers advantages such as:
• Import from over 100 different imagery formats • No file size limits—easily show images of any size • Orthophoto and Geocoding wizards
• Mosaic and color balancing wizards • Automatically join numerous airphotos • View or hide individual airphotos • Blend along areas of overlap
The enterprise wide imagery revolution
Give your GIS data real world meaning, by presenting it over ER Mapper image backdrops through a series of plugins.Benefits of using revolutionary `algorithms' instead of `disk-to-disk' processing
ER Mapper performs all its processing when it displays an image, without using disk storage. As you change the processing, the image displayed by ER Mapper changes interactively. This promotes a valuable ‘try it and see’ method of working, vital to modern image processing.
ER Mapper can make a world of difference to the way you view your GIS
ER Mapper algorithm in MapInfo
2.
2.
Use compressed images
inside your GIS
The skeleton lines and points of GIS vector data are transformed into a complete picture with the addition of an image backdrop. With the ER Mapper plugins you can directly read an ER Mapper image behind your GIS vector data. Your information is then immediately put into a real world context and errors and changes can be identified. You can now compress and display images of any size easily inside your GIS packages.
Free plugins shipped with ER Mapper 6.0 include: • Free ArcView®GIS Version 3.1 plugin
• Free MapInfo Professional v4.5 and v5.0®plugin
• Free AutoCAD Map®plugin
• Free Autodesk World™plugin
• ER Viewer (view images within Microsoft® programs such as Word and Excel)
All brands, company names and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Not all functions are available on all platforms. Product specifications subject to change without notice.
“ER Mapper is an important tool for our research activities since it enables us to test some of the processing, quickly and simply visualize data sets, and merge either different types of data or interface directly with our data base.”
-- Yann H. Kerr, Cesbio
“Users are able to produce professional looking maps that would make even the most demanding of cartographers drool with envy.”
-- Desktop Computing, The Star
Find and update changes and errors in your GIS data easier by using backdrops prepared with ER Mapper
ise wide imagery solution
5.
5.
Try for yourself
Evaluate ER Mapper with the free CD-ROM which contains:
• The complete ER Mapper software • Online manuals
• Over 400Mb of sample data
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4.
Print high quality output
Generating professional output is critical. ER Mapper’s advanced map production and annotation system offers a complete suite of tools to produce maps of the highest quality quickly and easily.
• Print at any size and scale
• Print to a huge selection of printers and plotters
• Save directly to graphics file formats such as tiff and eps • Drag-and-drop a selection of customizable map items • Add grids and scale bars that automatically fit the image • Customize your own map items
• Embed 3D views into maps to show the whole picture
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3.
Distribute royalty free
compressed imagery
The Image compression wizard with real time decompression represents breakthrough technology to compress large images.
• Achieve compression rates of 10:1 to 15:1 for grayscale imagery and 25:1 to 50:1 for color imagery
• Compress large files for distribution by Email • Adjustable compression ratio
• Free plugins in ER Mapper 6.0 - GIS/CAD/Office users do NOT need to purchase expensive image add-ons
• All plugins can be shipped with your data for easy viewing • Each plugin contains the complete ER Mapper algorithm
processing engine
• No file size limit - easily view the entire project area in one high resolution image
• Distribute ER Mapper algorithms - distribute smart images which can be viewed using the free plugins
• Royalty free Compression wizard included with every copy of ER Mapper 6.0.
ER Mapper
#1
for
image compression
The image on the left has been compressed from 700Mb to 7Mb using ER Mappers new compression wizard at ratio of 100:1.The insert below shows the detail of the image.
Case study — Local planning, using the enterprise wide solution
Application by Dawn Newman and
Francois Venter of the Gauteng
Provincial Government
Because of the rate at which the area of Gauteng (an area in South Africa) is expanding, one of the problems we experience are informal settlements (squatter areas). These extending areas surround the major towns bringing with them associated sanitation, educational, infrastructure and safety problems.
As the squatter areas expanded, more and more pressure was applied to find solutions to the problems at the grassroots level. This is why the impact of being able to visualize the problem with accurate and recent real world imagery is so important to us.
The challenges of local government management and planning in a growing and developing region were far outweighing the capabilities of our traditional methods. These consisted of hardcopy maps with haphazard color coding and census data which were both inefficient and highly expensive, not to mention out of date.
To assist in making effective decisions, we needed to have a method of gathering the information from various sources, integrating it and ensuring each source was transparent to the others.
Three years ago we began to implement image processing and GIS techniques and the results have been outstanding.
We use a combination of satellite imagery and aerial photography of the Gauteng region. ER Mapper is used to georeference and mosaic the imagery, and if necessary merged to form an image backdrop. More advanced processes such as manipulation of the spectral bands immediately highlight densely populated squatter areas.
It is at this point that immediate conclusions can be easily drawn. Change detection comparing old maps with up to date imagery can easily show where new settlements have sprung up and which areas have increased in size.
However, the imagery is given even greater value when combined with information from a GIS. We integrate GIS information from Autodesk World with our image backdrop from ER Mapper. Because the ER Mapper technology is embedded inside Autodesk World, the combination of data is simple. It effectively handles the vast complexity, variety and physical spread of the alphanumeric data involved.
Because our visual interpretation of the GIS data is now easier, we can query the database for more complex information.
It has simplified our data analysis process tenfold whilst increasing its accuracy and improving our decision making results. We have been able to verify and update cadastral data, query database information and map an effective scenario for decision-makers. In a matter of minutes, we now have all of this information at our fingertips allowing us to reach intelligent and informed conclusions.
Our latest project has been for the Disaster Management Team in Gauteng. In one of the squatter settlements featured in the images here, lack of electricity meant extensive use of paraffin lamps in winter. This posed extreme dangers of fire.
Through the analysis of aerial photos, satellite imagery and database querying it was found that housing within the area was so dense that only small pathways were left between each hut. This meant that the risk of fire spreading was greatly increased and the efforts of the emergency services in reaching the affected area were being hampered.
In order to maximise response times and to minimise the damage, it is important for rescue teams to know the terrain they are going to work in before they make decisions on how to best handle the situation.
ER Mapper image inside Autodesk World
As information specialists, it is our job to provide policy makers with relevant information to make informed decisions.
Once the Disaster Management team became aware of this potentially deadly situation, they were able to relocate families to more suitable living areas.
Again we used our combined imagery data from ER Mapper and database information from Autodesk World to select appropriate sites whilst improvements were being made. The area was cleared and cleaned, new housing zones identified and established, roads clearly marked and widened enough
for the use of vehicles and fire engines. The community assisted the team once the benefits were seen and as a result the settlement is now a much safer and healthier place to live.
Utilizing real world, up to date imagery instead of our basic cadastral and vector data has influenced a paradigm shift within our department.
The vision held by most people has broadened to include the impact t h a t e a c h G o v e r n m e n t department be it H o u s i n g , Agriculture and Environment or Education and Health has on one another.
It has also helped us to realise how important it is for all departments within Gauteng Provincial Government to work together towards our Smart Province Vision.
Dawn Newman is GIS Systems Manager and Francois Venter a Geographer and MCSE to the development planning department, both in Gauteng Provincial Government, South Africa. They can be contacted at the address below.
[email protected] [email protected]
Thanks also to Mr L. van der Merwe and Mr Mohammed Byat in the department and to Kobus Bester and the SAC for the imagery.
The clean up operation in progress
The area surrounding the area after redevelopment
John Murtagh describes a solution
the NRSC found to an age-old
problem
Anyone who has ever used or generated imagery will know that file size is an issue. Whether scanned or acquired direct from a sensor, the resulting digital images are often large. Such unwieldy file sizes means that the results are costly in terms of storage, processing capability and data generation time.
The UK National Remote Sensing Centre is one such company who continually generates imagery from its mass of historical and recent aerial flights. Previously, distribution of such massive datasets caused real problems as the mosaicing of imagery created datasets of several gigabytes. Fortunately this is no longer a problem for the NRSC.
As users of ER Mapper we automatically have access to the latest breakthrough in compressed wavelet technology. This gives us the means to easily distribute 10GB (10,000MB) of color imagery on a single CD-ROM. The combination of using compressed imagery and a free ER Viewer has given us an ideal low cost and hassle free solution, overcoming the distribution and storage nightmares of old.
The old and the new
Before compression, we had to distribute images by CD-ROM, Exabyte, 4 mm DAT tape or QIC 150. Each 24 bit image needed 290mb, so a 650MB CD ROM could only hold two entire digital images. Even with our existing technology, only compression rates of 3:1 could be achieved reducing the imagery to 100 MB. This would allow a maximum of 6 compressed images per CD-ROM. Many CDs would be needed for countywide coverage at 1:25,000 scale.
Further to this, creation of orthophoto mosaics not only exacerbates the problems of file size, but the variation of color across the imagery also creates an effect rather like a patchwork quilt. This is caused by various distortions in the camera lens. Balancing the colors in the images to create a more attractive, seamless mosaic would take our data processors anything up to a day to achieve the desired affect.
With the solution that ER Mapper presented us with, we have now overcome all of the above issues. We can now compress the imagery by up to 100:1 using ER Mapper's compression technology. This means that we can save 224 images on a single CD-ROM and distribute them along with the Viewer. The compression algorithm helps us to have an efficient, cost effective workflow for producing and distributing our imagery quickly to our customers.
How do we use compression?
After rectifying, mosaicing and color balancing the imagery, we can save the result directly as a compressed image by using the compression wizard in ER Mapper. We can choose whether the compressed image is greyscale or RGB, and then we can select the compression ratio. This wizard will suggest the best compression ratio for the image, but we are at total liberty to select any compression ratio we require. The wizard will show you the resulting size and once satisfied we can run the compression and store the result.
The Benefits to the NRSC
There are a number of benefits to the NRSC that resulted from using compression for our imagery:
• No data royalties - There are no data royalties when using
compression to produce compressed imagery. This means that we can distribute as much as we like without incurring additional costs.
• Free plugins - The free GIS and Office plugins can be
distributed with our imagery to enable MS Office, ArcView, MapInfo Professional, Autocad MAP, ER Mapper and other users to directly access and use our imagery.
• Tightly integrated - As the Compression Wizard is
integrated with ER Mapper 6.0, we can use other functionality within ER Mapper.
• Free Viewer - This enables us to distribute our datasets with
the ER Viewer to our clients at no additional cost
Distribution is a key component of our workflow. Without the efficient, low cost method we have been given to achieve this, we would be in danger of not only limiting accessibility to our imagery, but we would be creating higher overhead costs in terms of storage and processing. So, we no longer have a complex about size at the NRSC. We know small is better!
John Murtagh, National Remote Sensing Centre
Case study — When size really does matter….
The above image is a small section of a 260Mb image mosaic that has been compressed to 2.6Mb
Creating an image mosaic
In this exercise you will use the Mosaic wizard to learn how easy it is to display overlapping images in different layers to create an image mosaic.
These examples use sample data that is installed with the “Typical” ER Mapper installation option.
If you have not received a CD-ROM please contact your reseller.
.
Note: The sample images used in the following exercise were previously rectified to the same map projection, so they can be displayed together in a mosaic.
Select files to display and mosaic
1. On the Common Functions toolbar, click the Image Display and Mosaicing Wizard button.
The Image Display and Mosaicing Wizard opens
2. Click the Load Image button . The Select File dialog opens.
3. From the Directories menu, select the path ending with the text \examples.
4. From the directory
'Applications\Airphoto\1_Geocoding'
Select: ‘San_Diego_Airphoto_34_rectified.ers’ 5. Select the following options on the wizard page:
• Display image in 2D • Manually set display method • Mosaic all files of this type • Manually set mosaic
6. Click on the Next> button to go to the next wizard page. 7. Select the Cell size option. Do not select the other options on
this page.
The images in this directory that we want to mosaic all have the same cell sizes, the wizard will reject the other images as their cell size is different.
8. Click on the Next> button to go to the next wizard page. 9. Select the Red Green Blue display option.
10. Click on the Next> button.
ER Mapper will display a mosaic of two Orthophotos 11. Click Finish to close the wizard.
Color balancing the mosaic
You can now use the Color Balancing Wizard for Airphotos to color balance the mosaiced images, removing any color distortions from the mosaic.
1. Click on the Color Balancing Wizard for Airphotos button on the Common Functions toolbar to open the wizard.
The wizard processes the currently active image window which you left open after the previous exercise.
2. Click on the Next> button to go to the next wizard page. 3. Click on the Next> button to go to the next wizard page. The wizard will analyze images for balancing
The wizard requires the images to be analyzed before it can do the balancing. The analysis information is stored in the image dataset header files. If the images have not yet been analyzed, the wizard will now do so.
4. Click on the Next> button to go to the next wizard page. 5. Select the Balanced option
6. Click on the Next> button to go to the next wizard page. The wizard will balance the images
7. Click on the Finish button to exit the Color Balancing Wizard for Airphotos.
Mosaic before balancing Mosaic after balancing You can now save the balanced mosaic as a compressed image.
Creating a ECW compressed image
1. Select Save as Compressed image from the File menu 2. Select the Use the current algorithm window option andclick on the Next button.
3. In the Output file: field, enter or choose a directory where the compressed image is to be saved and click the Next button. 4. You can leave the Colorscale ratio at the default for the
purpose of this exercise and click Next to start the compression process.
View an ER Mapper image inside
ArcView 3.1
In this exercise you will learn how to view an ER Mapper image inside ArcView3.1. These examples use sample data that is installed with the “Typical” ER Mapper installation option.
1. Install the ArcVIew plugin from the ER Mapper 6.0 CD-ROM or download it from www.ermapper.com.
2. Open ArcView3.1 and select a new view.
3. You will be asked if you want to create a new project. Select the with a new view option and click OK.
4. When you are asked if you want to add data to the view, select NO. 5. From main toolbar select file and then Extensions. Check the
ER Mapper algorithms and images option from the
Available extensions and check the make default option. 6. Click OK
6. From the View menu select the Add theme option 7. Select Image data source, then from your ER Mapper
installation area select the
‘examples\Applications\World_Topography’ directory and the ‘World_Topography.alg’
8. Click on the View checkbox to display the image. The ER Mapper world image will display.
8. From the View menu select the Add theme option 9. From your ESRI installation area select the folder
‘esri\esridata\world’ and then changing the Data Source types: to Feature Data Source choose the ‘cities.shp’.
10. Click on the View checkbox to display the image.
The world cities will display over The ER Mapper world image. You can now select other feature data sources to drape over the image.
View an ER Mapper image inside
MapInfo Professional
IN this exercise you will learn how to view an ER Mapper image inside MapInfo Professional v4.5 or 5.0. These examples use sample data that is installed with the “Typical” ER Mapper installation option.
1. Install the MapInfo plugin from the ERMapper 6.0 CD-ROM or download it from www.ermapper.com.
2. Open MapInfo.
3. From the MapImagery pull down menu select Open
Algorithm.
4. In the file manager select from your ER Mapper installation area the ‘examples\Applications\World_Topography’ directory and the ‘World_Topography.alg’
The MapImagery Projection dialog will appear.
5. Leave the map projection as WGS84 and click OK. The ER Mapper world image will display inside MapInfo. 6. From the File pull down menu select Open Table
7. In the file manager select from your MapInfo installation area the ‘DATA\WORLD’ directory and the file ‘Worldcap.tab’ and click OK.
The world cities will display over The ER Mapper world image. You can now select other feature data sources to drape over the image.
View ER Mapper images inside other software
Combine GIS and images to make great maps
Oil and Gas exploration
Mineral exploration
View multi-surface 3D
ER Mapper 6.0
Helping people manage the earth
• Wizards • Map production • 3D presentations • Annotation • Orthophoto • Surface gridding • Contouring • Image mosaicing • Data compression • Geocoding • Spatial analysis • Raster to vector
• Land use classification • Data integration • Image analysis • Radar processing • Fast Fourier Transforms
New features include:
✔✔ ✔
✔ Free imagery plugins for GIS systems
✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ Orthorectification of airphotos ✔ ✔ ✔
✔ Image display and mosaic wizard
✔ ✔ ✔
✔ The Image Balance wizard
✔ ✔ ✔
✔ The Geocoding wizard
✔ ✔ ✔
✔ The Surface Gridding wizard
✔ ✔ ✔
✔ The Contouring wizard
✔ ✔ ✔
✔ Save as... to popular formats
✔ ✔ ✔
✔ File open... directly from popular formats
✔ ✔ ✔
✔ Image compression wizard
✔ ✔ ✔
✔ Real time roaming and zooming
✔ ✔ ✔
✔ Radar processing fully bundled
Asia Pacific Region Office:
Earth Resource Mapping Level 2 87 Colin Street West Perth Western Australia 6005 Telephone: +61 8 9388-2900 Facsimile: +61 8 9388-2901
European Region Office:
Earth Resource Mapping Blenheim House Crabtree Office Village Eversley Way, Egham Surrey, TW20 8RY, UK Telephone: +44 1784 430-691 Facsimile: +44 1784 430-692
Americas Region Office:
Earth Resource Mapping 4370 La Jolla Village Drive Suite 900 San Diego, CA 92122-1253, USA Telephone: +1 619 558-4709 Facsimile: +1 619 558-2657
ER Mapper
Helping people manage the earth
www.ermapper.com
All brands, company names and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.Not all functions are available on all platforms.Product specifications subject to change without notice.
ER Mapper is fully supported worldwide by 510 Reseller offices. Reseller enquiries welcome.
View images and vectors in 3D
