Lab 01: Introduction to Erdas Imagine 2010

Note that there is a worksheet at the end of this lab write-up that you must turn in at the end
of the lab period. You can e-mail this to me (kdriese@uwyo.edu) if you prefer.

Erdas Imagine is a powerful software package that is arguably the most commonly used
(although there are many other good packages) by remote sensing scientists for manipulating
and analyzing data. In this exercise you will familiarize yourselves with its capabilities. Probably
the best way to get started with any complex software is to explore the various menus and
buttons to see what kinds of tasks the software can do.

(In these instructions, when going down a menu tree, the cascading menu choices will be
separated with a “/”)

Starting Erdas Imagine 2010 and Creating a Shortcut

When Erdas Imagine2010 is started (Start/All Programs /Erdas 2010/Erdas Imagine

2010/Erdas Imagine 2010) (You can save yourself some clicking by creating a shortcut on your
desktop), a comprehensive Erdas window opens that includes various “tabs” across the top,
corresponding to different toolsets, a contents and shoebox legend on the left, where you can
organize your files, and a black graphic window on the right, where images and other spatial
data can be displayed (see below).

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Using Erdas Help Documents

Note that there are several help options for Erdas. The most useful for this class is accessed by
clicking on the little question mark (?) on the upper right side of the Erdas interface. This will
open an Internet Explorer window with a Table of Contents on the left leading you to common
Erdas functions.

There are more detailed help documents available for specific Erdas tools that you can access
by clicking on the Help tab on the main interface. Field Guides explain some of the theory
behind Erdas routines. Tour Guides walk you through some Erdas routines in a step by step
fashion. User Guides offer tutorials on a wide range of Erdas applications. Language Reference
help offers information on programming syntax for customizing Erdas or writing your own
models (we’ll eventually do some of this).

Configuring Erdas (Setting your preferences)

You can customize Erdas defaults to save yourself a lot of pointing and clicking during the
remainder of the semester by using the Preferences Editor. You can access this by clicking on
the little circle in the upper left corner of the Erdas Interface and then clicking on Preferences
on the ribbon at the very bottom of the window that appears.

First set your default directories for reading and writing information (files). The former is your
default data directory and the latter is the default output directory.

For your Default Data Directory, replace what is in the box with
\\windows.uwyo.edu\student\classfiles\botany\4111. This will be the location of the
data files that you will use in the laboratory exercises we will do this semester.

Your default output directory will be on your own H: drive in your UWSTUDENT account.
First, create a folder on your H: drive called rs4111 or something else that you would
like to use as a folder to use for this class. Now you can type this folder path into the
Default Output Directory box (e.g., H:\rs4111).

Now click on “User Save” to save your preferences for yourself.

Note that there are MANY other customizable options (scroll down and/or click on some of the
other choices) in the Preferences Editor that you can change. For now, just stay with the
defaults, but remember that as the semester progresses you might want to revisit this to set
defaults to match your personal preferences for various functions.

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The Home Tab and Opening Images

Let’s return to the main interface and the Home Tab (which opened by default when you
started Erdas). When you are in the Home Tab, there are options across the top “ribbon” that
allow you to manipulate (e.g., zoom in and out, scroll, etc.) the way you view images and
spatial data in the view window. These are inactive until you display data, which we’ll do
shortly.

On the left side of the interface are two areas for organizing data. One is called the Contents
and the other is called the ShoeBox. The Contents area lists all of the files that are currently
displayed in the graphic window. The ShoeBox can be used to store data that you may want to
use periodically but that are not necessarily displayed currently. You can drag image icons from
the Contents to the ShoeBox or vice versa and you can save ShoeBox files (as .ipx files) and
reopen them later.

Note that most of the options across the Home tab “ribbon” are inactive. This is true only when
you don’t have any images open. Let’s open a Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) image of
Laramie. There are several ways to do this. One way is to click on the open folder at the very
top of the interface. If you do this, and if you’ve set your preferences correctly above, you
should see a list of folders including one for today’s lab called lab_01_erdas_intro. In this
folder is a file called larm1.img. Go ahead and choose this image and click OK. It should open
in the graphic window.

Notice that many of your options in the ribbon area are now active. Also note that the
larm1.img image appears in the Contents area but not in the ShoeBox. You can put the image
in the ShoeBox by dragging it from the Contents into the ShoeBox folder. If you want to save
the ShoeBox, just right click on the ShoeBox folder and choose Save As ShoeBox File.

Now let’s open a second window so that you can display two images side by side. In the Home
Tab ribbon, click Add Views/Create New 2D View. A second graphic window should open
beside your opened Laramie Image. In the Contents window, drag the larm1.img file into 2D
View #2 to open it in the new window. Notice that if you right click in an image you can “Zoom
to Data Extent” to make the image fill the window. You can also do this by clicking “Zoom to
Data Extent” in the Home Tab ribbon.

Notice that there are other tools for zooming in and out. Experiment with them. Try to zoom
in on your house. What do you see?

Getting Information about an Image

Often you need to gather basic information about image files. First, some terminology:

“Raster” is the technical term for image or GIS data that are composed of pixels arranged in
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rows (or lines or records) and columns (or samples). Each x,y (row, column) grid cell is called a
“pixel” (just like in your digital camera).

“Vector” is the technical term for GIS point, line, and polygon data in computer (digital) format.
Vector data are composed of the x,y coordinates of points and information about if and how
the points are connected into lines or areas (polygons).

A layer in Erdas Imagine is either a single raster satellite band or a vector dataset.

A file (e.g. an image file) can have one or several layers.

Typically, an Erdas Imagine file (*.img) will have several layers, one for each band of satellite
data. This may cause confusion because there is not necessarily a correspondence between
layer number (in Erdas) and band number (from the satellite). In other words, Erdas will
number the bands consecutively regardless of the band numbers assigned by the engineers
who designed the satellite. This will make more sense to you after a few more lectures/labs.

Click on the Layer Info icon at the top of your Home Tab and choose View/Edit Image
Metadata. A window will open that includes some basic information about the larm1.img file,
including the number of layers (bands), the number of columns (width) and rows (height), the
type of data, the minimum, maximum and mean pixel values and other information that we will
learn about as the semester progresses. Explore some of the tabs on this information window
(and answer the worksheet questions).

When you are done, close the Layer Information window.

Changing the Color Scheme Using the Multispectral Tab

The appearance of an image depends on how you choose to assign the three additive primary
colors (red, green and blue) to satellite image bands (also called spectral bands or channels).
The convention is to assign whichever spectral band corresponds to near infrared (NIR) to the
color red. This results in an image that looks like the one that you originally opened, with lush
vegetation appearing in shades of red.

The Laramie image that you are using has 7 spectral bands, numbered 1 – 7, each of which has
captured a different part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Now you will try to change the
bands that are assigned to the primary colors to make the image look like what you would see
with your eye (or with a conventional camera). Click on View #2 to make it active. Now you
will click the Multispectral Tab at the top of your Erdas window. Notice that there are various
controls for changing the appearance of images. Directly under “Multispectral” choose Landsat
5 TM and experiment with various band combinations with the goal of making an image look
like it would look to your eye. Note that any standing water will be dark, vegetation will be
greenish and that there are some orange soils north of town. On the worksheet, record the
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band to primary color combinations that result in “true color.”

Linking and Unlinking Images in Separate Graphics Windows

It is often useful to “Link” viewers together so that you can identify the same location in two or
more images. Go back to your Home Tab and choose “Link all Views” to link your two images
together. Now click on the Inquire Cursor. If your images are linked, crossed white lines will
appear in both images (if they aren’t linked the white cross will only appear in the active image)
and a window will pop up that contains information about the exact pixel at the intersection of
the crosshairs. Move the crosshairs around with your mouse and note that it moves in both
images.

Opening Multiple Images in a Single Window

You can also open and explore more than one image in a single window. One way to do this is
to use the file open icon at the top of the Erdas window (looks like a manila file folder), choose
an image and click the Raster Options tab and uncheck the “Clear Display” box, so that the
original image doesn’t get erased.

Another way is to open an image in a second window and then in the Contents area, drag it into
the first window. On your screen, in the content area drag the larm1.img file in 2D View #2 to
2D View #1. Note that the colors will default back to the default.

Open the Laramie image as a second image in 2D View #1 using one of the methods above and
change the colors to look like what your eye would see.

Now click on the “Swipe” button in the Home Tab ribbon and experiment with the result. This
is useful for comparing two images.

Explore!

There are MANY other tools for changing the appearance of images, arranging and exploring
images and doing complex manipulation of images. We will explore many of these as the
semester progresses. If you have time, continue to play with the Erdas interface and familiarize
yourself with as many of the basic tools as you can. Many of these will come in handy during
lab exercises over the course of the semester.

Throughout the semester you may leave lab when you have finished the exercises to your
satisfaction and turned in your lab worksheet, if there is one. You will be expected to know
the material covered in the labs and you must be able to use the tools.

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Name___________________________________

Worksheet: Lab 01: Introduction To Erdas Imagine

1. Describe the Laramie image that you originally opened using the default color scheme.

a. What color is the relatively lush vegetation on the west side of the Laramie
River? Why?

b. What color are the grasslands surrounding town and on the far west (left) side of
the image? Why?

c. What color is the Laramie River? Why?

2. Based on the Layer Information window provide the following information about the
larm1.img image file:

a. How many bands does the image have?

b. What is the mean pixel value for Band 4?

c. What is the minimum pixel value for Band 2?

d. How many columns of pixels are there in this image?

3. What band and color combinations are required to make the image look like what your
eye would see (“true color”)? What spectral region do you think each of the three
Landsat bands you used correspond to?