GsE 189 - REMOTE SENSING: THEORY AND APPLICATIONS

Laboratory Exercise # 1
Familiarization of ENVI

Submitted to:

Engr. Alexis Richard C. Claridades, M.Sc

Submitted by:

Jasper B. Molleno

August 10, 2018

Introduction​:

Remote Sensing, is the art and science of acquiring information or data of an object not
directly in contact with the observer. It is possible due to the photogrammetry and the energy emitted
by the object observed. The energy collected by the sensors are processed and analyzed depending on
the objective. But before we proceed to the part where data are processed and analyzed, we should
familiarize ourselves with the software we’re going to use.

Methodology:

Familiarization of ENVI involves understanding the basics of the software. In this laboratory
exercise the following steps were followed accordingly to understand how each basic function works.

Launching the software

ENVI 5.2 was launched and the window interface is seen. This interface allows the user to
process and analyze geospatial imagery. Afterwards, the ‘ENVI Toolbox’ was explored by checking
the contents of each tools inside.

Setting Preferences
Settings for working on ENVI interface such as the ​Data Manager ​and ​Directories w
​ ere
changed to be able to work on this laboratory exercise.

Operating and Displaying Images

For this laboratory exercise, can_tmr.img was used all throughout the exercise. After loading
the image, the Overview of the image was viewed. Also, adjustment of zooming levels of the image
display was also introduced. After trying various zooming levels, the ​Overview ​window was toggled
off.

Data Manager
This interface was accessed to manage the data such as its metadata and band combinations.
After opeing the ​Data Manager,​ the different bands were automatically shown. After seeing the
different bands, 4 layers with bands 7-4-3, 5,-2-1, 7--5-4 and 4-3-2.

Working with Layers and Multiple Views

After creating layers with different combinations, the main image was dragged to the top so
that it will become the visible image in the display interface. The metadata of ​can_tmr.img ​was view
by accessing the ​Metadata Viewer​. Information regarding this image were found inside the ​Metadata
Viewer. ​After looking at all the necessary information, the ​Metadata Viewer w ​ as closed. Moreover,
options in the ​Layer Manager ​such as ​Rename, Order and Send to ArcMap were also introduced in
this part.
Additionally, from the ENVI menu, the View tab was selected to create another view for the
display interface. By dragging and dropping down the layer with 4-3-2 band combination to the other
view layer, the display interface transformed into a somewhat split screen display. With the addition
of the lnking views, the images shown in different views, now moves in sync with each other.

Working with ENVI’s Buttons and Sliders

 Detach and attach feature was introduced in this part. As well as the buttons (Cursor Value,
Pan, Fly, Rotate, Zoom Crosshairs, Go to, etc.) and the sliders for brightness, contrast, sharpness and
transparency

Contrast Stretching and Other Tools

Multiple options for contrast stretching were used and the results were evaluated.

Portal
Usage of this tool and the differences with using a portal with and without pinned were used
to display the lower layer in the ​Layer Manager.

Blend, Flicker and Swipe

After getting a glimpse on how ​Portal ​worked on the previous step, these three tools were
used to compare two different layers.

Creating and Annotated Image

An annotating image was created by adding text, shape, symbols and shapes to make the map
image understandable.

Close Files
After successfully doing every steps, the ​Data Manager was closed and questions regarding
the activity were answered.

Results and Discussion​:

Figure 1. Overview of the Image

[Question 1] What is the difference between the yellow area and the red bounding box in the
Overview display?​:
The yellow area shows an overview of the whole map, the red bounding box, is the zoomed-in part
shown in the display window.
[Question 2]. What are the center wavelengths of each available band? Describe what happens to each
of the image combinations.

The wavelengths seen in the Data Manager are Band 1 (0.4850), Band 2 (0.5600), Band 3 ( 0.8300),
Band 4 (0.8300), Band 5 (1.6500) and Band 7 (2.2150)

Figure 2. Band Combination 7-4-3 layer

Figure 2 shows the abundance of the green color throughout the map, peach, gray and white
colors are also present.

Figure 3. Band combination 5-2-1 layer

Figure 3 shows an abundance in red color. However, unlike Figure 2, there aren’t any green
color present in this image.
 Figure 4. Band combination 7-5-4

Unlike the previous two, the dominating area in Figure 4 is color sky blue and it shows a
variety of colors like, green, yellow, navy blue, white and blue-green.

Figure 5. Band combination 4-3-2

Figure 5 is somewhat similar to the original image and image from figure 3
 Figure 6 Metadata dialog box
[Question 3] Where is the location of the image? What is the sensor type? What are the file size and
file type?
The answer in respective order.: Canon City, Colorado ; Landsat TM; Size: 1,536,000 bytes ; ENVI
Type

[Question 4] What information is being displayed in the Cursor Value window?

The answer is: It displays coordinates where the cursor of the mouse is placed.

[Question 5] What do the Fly and Rotate buttons do?

Rotate = allows you to rotate the image for a different view
Fly = allows you to move to a specified direction smoothly by left-clicking and holding the mouse
button

[Question 6]. Take a screen capture of the location. What type of land cover is it (vegetation, built-up,
bare soil, water)?
 Figure 7. Location of (213, 242) using the layer of band combination 4

The crosshairs in figure 7 shows a built-up area.

[Question 7]. Slowly increase the transparency slide bar to the right. What happened to your display?
Answer to question 7: The layer currently viewed is slowly fading away and the next layer is slowly
getting visible
[Question 8]. Try applying several of the different available stretches and briefly describe what
happens in the display

Figure 8. Contrast stretching (NONE)

For no contrast stretching option as shown in figure 8, the image is dark and the features are
difficult to see.

Figure 9. Contrast stretching (Linear)

For Linear shown in figure 9, the image can be already seen but most of the features are still
difficult to notice. The contrast setting in this stretch is also set to 1.
 Figure 10. Contrast stretching (Linear 1%)
In figure 10, the image is clear almost the same like the original image however, unlike the
original image with a Linear strech of 2%, the contrast set at this image is 9 and not 20.

Figure 11. Contrast stretching (Linear 2%)

Figure 11 is the default stretch in ENVI. It looks exactly like the original image after it was
opened.
 Figure 12. Contrast stretching (Linear 5%)
Figure 12, compared to, the original image is a lot brighter than the original image because of
its settings in contrast set to 40.

Figure 13. Contrast stretching (Equalization)

Figure 13 shows a brighter image and a sharper image than the original image.
 Figure 14. Contrast stretching (Gaussian)
Figure 14 shows a simplified-like look of the map using Gaussian math.

Figure 15. Contrast stretching (Square Root)

Figure 15 shows and image looking like a dessert. The features are difficult to differentiate.
 Figure 16. Contrast stretching (Logarithmic)
Figure 16 shows less feature can be mistaken that the image shows a dessert.

Figure 17. Contrast stretching (Optimized Linear)

Figure 17 show a darkish brown image that shows a bit of visible features.
[Question 9]. Describe the differences in the display

Figure 18 Linear Stretch (0.5 percent value)

Figure 19. Linear Stretch (1 percent value)

Answer: Figure 18, because of having a percent value close to zero, it produced a darker image,
similar to setting it to 1. However Figure 19 shows a brighter image because it’s linear percent value
is farther from 0.
[Question 10] Describe the differences in the display.

Figure 20. Gaussian Stretch (0.5 percent value)

Figure 21 Gaussian Stretch (1 percent value)

Answer: Figure 20 and 21 both produced a brighter and sharper image than the original, however
because of having different value of percent value, there is a figure in which is brighter and sharper
than the other one. And this is figure 21 because of a farther value of percent from 0.

[Question 11]. As you pan around the image, what happens to the portal?
Answer: The portal is fixed a location as the panned image moves.

[Question 12] What happens now to the portal after pinning?

Answer: After pinning it, by the term itself, the portal is pinned to the image and it goes were the
image is panned to.
[Question 13] Describe what happened with blend
Answer: The image of the portal shows stays the same and is always the layer below while the whole
image maintains a smooth transition from one image to another.

[Question 14] Describe what happened with swipe

Answer: The image of the portal is always the layer below and it doesn’t change while the layer
switches from one another with sa swipe-like transition

[Question 15] Paste a screen capture of the properly annotated image in your report

Figure 22. Annotation of Image

Conclusion
Familiarity with the tools and where to find those tools is attained in this experiment.
However, even if the familiarity is attained, it lacks a good analysis and discussion of results. This
lack of good analysis might be avoided in the future exercises.