Free Geography Tools

Click here for parts one , two and three of this series.

SamplePoint

SamplePoint is a manual image-analysis program designed to facilitate vegetation cover measurements from nadir digital images of any scale. Operating essentially as a digital point frame, the software loads images, places classification points on the image, and stores classification data to a database as the user classes each point. Up to three simultaneous views of each classification point, at varying zoom levels, are possible. Functional use is not limited to vegetation classification. Installation file contains SamplePoint, SPTracker, a Help Manual, a PowerPoint Tutorial and two sample images.

Note: Appears to be primarily for close-up vegetation cover analysis, but may be useful for other applications.

SAMS

The Spectral Analysis and Management System (SAMS) is a Java application to manage field spectra databases and analyses. Features include: import/export options in various formats, signature groupings, metadata management, common operations on single or multiple signatures, richer set of plotting capabilities, and a simple data structure for easy integration with other applications… SAMS 2.0 does not require Matlab and runs on multiple platforms
(Windows, Linux, and UNIX). Databases are interchangeable among these platforms.

SeaDAS

The SeaWiFS Data Analysis System (SeaDAS) is a comprehensive image analysis package for the processing, display, analysis, and quality control of ocean color data.

StarSpan

StarSpan is designed to bridge the raster and vector worlds of spatial analysis using fast algorithms for pixel level extraction from geometry features (points, lines, polygons). StarSpan generates databases of extracted pixel values (from one or a set of raster images), fused with the database attributes from the vector files. This allows a user to do statistical analysis of the pixel vs. attribute data in many existing packages and can greatly speed up classification training and testing.

TerraLOOK

TerraLook is a collaborative project that provides access to satellite images for users that lack prior experience with remote sensing or Geographic Information System (GIS) technology.
Formerly known as the Protected Area Archive, TerraLook combines collections of georeferenced JPEG images with a set of simple visualization and analysis tools. This allows users to explore the data and employ it for useful purposes in a variety of disciplines including conservation, development planning, education, urban studies, disaster planning and response, and others. It may be of particular use in developing countries that may have less capacity to purchase or work with remote sensing data.

• Image find, roam, and zoom
• Image annotation (adding text, arrows, etc,)
• Image enhancement
• View, edit, and create vector files
• Distance and area measurement
• Image mosaicking
• Multi-lingual support (currently English, Spanish and French)
• Image comparison using ‘flicker’
• Multi-band dataset support (many formats)
• Classification
• 3-D viewing capability

Note: Built on top of OpenEV.

Windisp

Windisp is a public domain, easy to use software package for the display and analysis of satellite images, maps and associated databases, with an emphasis on early warning for food security. WinDisp was originally developed for the FAO Global Information and Early Warning System. It allows users to:

• Display and analyse satellite images
• Compare two images and analyse trends in a time-series of images
• Extract and graph trends from a number of satellite images such as during the growing season for comparison with other years
• Compute new images from a series of images
• Display tabular data in map format
• Build custom products combining images, maps and specialised legends
• Write and execute batch files to automate routine and tedious tasks
• Build a customized project interface for providing users with detailed menus of available data for a country or a specific area

Xbit

Built upon Tcl/Tk, XBit is able to provide an easy-to-use GUI that integrates various image and map processing utilities.  XBit’s image processing functions include display, crop, geometric rectification, enhancement, calibration, convolution, classification, FFT analysis and filtering, principal component transformation, video stream display, real time image capture with digital camera and etc.  In addition, XBit implements a Tcl shell for OpenGL (currently only available to Windows), which together with the XBit’s image processing capability greatly enhances 3D image rendering. XBit’s map processing functions include displaying, editing and analysing graphic and tabular data of shape files (.shp) and table files (.dbf).