Update Archive
2012.10.18 Version
Macintosh and Windows Versions
Processor->Display Multispectral Image
This version fixes a problem in which the channels in a linked file would not be displayed correctly when one of the channels was repeated such as 1, 2, 1 for red, green and blue where channel 1 was from file 1 and channel 2 was from file 2.
Processor->Cluster
This version fixes a problem when one clustered with a subset of channels in a data set with many channels, saved the project and then repeated the cluster operation. The subset of channels to be used would change with the last channel in the subset being repeated during the second cluster operation.
General
AmericaView was added as a supporter on the MultiSpec splash screen.
2012.7.18 Version
Macintosh and Windows Versions
File – Open Image
This version fixes a problem in MultiSpec which causes reads of a large tiff/geotiff images (like full Landsat scenes) that are not formatted in tiles or strips to be very, very slow. Conversion to the gdal library to read tiff files allows MultiSpec to handle compressed tiff images, but for these type of non-compressed images, the gdal/libtiff library combination reads the entire image for each line being read. MultiSpec now uses the prior file read mechanism for these type of files; in other words the tiff/geotiff file is treated as being 1 line per strip. Reading these type of files now is much, much faster.
MultiSpec can now handle the ArcGIS ASCII Grid and GRASS ASCII Grid type image files.This was done for a project I helped with at Purdue.
MultiSpec now also handles netCDF2 formatted images. This was needed for our work with HRLDAS processing output.
A problem was fixed for hdf5 formatted files which caused datasets with multiple channels in HRLDAS created output to not show up as a data set in the file.
Processor->Reformat->Change Image File Format
A problem was fixed which caused some tiff/geotiff output image files with strips to be formatted incorrectly.
2012.6.25 Version
Macintosh and Windows Versions
File – Open Image
MultiSpec will interpret the metadata in GOSAT hdf5 images to set the map projection correctly for the latest version of CAI L1B+ polar stereographic images.
MultiSpec will now also interpret the metadata in hdf5 images generated by the High Resolution Land Data Assimulation System (HRLDAS) to set the map projection and the flag to indicate that the images need to be flipped top to bottom.
Processor->Display Multispectral Image
The palette for one-channel thematic type displays for new images will default to that used in the previous image display window as long as the image files have similar characteristics such as number of channels. The min-max selection will also default to that used in the most recent image display window.
Processor->Reformat->Change Image File Format
The algebraic transformation algorithm in the Reformat Transform Parameters dialog box will default to that which was used last as long as the number of channels in the active image file are the same as those in the image file used previously.
Processor->Reformat->Rectify
A resampling option called "majority' was added for reprojecting an image to be the same as that for another image. This new resampling option can be used for thematic type images. This feature is usefull, for example, when one has an image at 30 meter spatial resolution and one wants to reproject the image to a spatial resolution of 1000 meters with the thematic value assigned to this new 1000 meter pixel to represent the thematic value of the majority of the 30 meter pixels within that 1000 meter pixel.
NOTE: Be aware that no correction is used for shifts from one datum to another during the reprojection process. Sometimes this is not a problem but other times it can be. I am checking into how best to implement corrections for datum shifts.
General
Memory leak errors were corrected in the grib and hdf5 gdal libraries.
2012.5.19 Version
Macintosh and Windows Versions
General
The gdal library was updated from version 1.7.3 to 1.9.0.
File – Open Image
The gdal libraries are now used to handle Imagine formatted images. Therefore MultiSpec can now handle compressed Imagine images.
MultiSpec can now handle the hdf5 format. This has been tested with GOSAT and VIIRS images. MultiSpec will also handle BAG (Bathymetry Attributed Grid) images. MultiSpec will interpret the metadata in the GOSAT images to set the map projection. One selects the dataset to be used from a popup menu in the file format specification dialog box like is done for files in hdf4 and netcdf format. The datasets are automatically grouped if they are in order, have similar dataset names (first 4 characters) and the same line/column/data type specs. One can also use the Processor->Utilities->List Image Description to get a listing of the metadata in the hdf5 files. Let me know if you run into problems handling hdf5 images; I am sure there are many variations. The hdf5 library version being used is 1.8.8. The gdal library is used as the interface between the hdf5 library and MultiSpec.
One item to note is that adding the hdf5 feature into MultiSpec increased the size of the application by more than 60%.
MultiSpec will also now handle the BigTIFF/BigGeoTIFF image data formats. This format is for files larger than 4 gigabytes. Note though that MultiSpec will not write out files in this format.
Edit->Image Map Parameters
Additional changes were made in the "Set Map Coordinate Specifications" dialog box. An option was added to define the reference coordinate system by the EPSG number. Several thousand reference systems have EPSG codes. When one sets the EPSG number, the parameters for the reference system are shown but they are not editable. As before, if one changes the reference system menu to User Defined, one can change the parameters. To make this all work, it is important to keep the epsg_csv folder with the MultiSpec application on Windows systems. This folder is part of the MultiSpec application package on Macintosh systems so if one moves the application, this folder (not seen) goes with it automatically.
The US Survey Feet units are now being handled consistantly.
Windows Version
Image Window
The image will now fill the initial image window. The image was being displayed at one zoom level smaller than it could have been ever since the coordinate bar was being displayed on the initial display if map coordinate information existed.
NOTE: This version will now read the images being generated for the 2011-2013 ortho flights over Indiana and handle the map projection information correctly. The elevation data is in compressed Imagine formatted files. The ortho data is in geotiff and ecw files in the NAD83/State Plane - US Survey Feet projection.
2012.3.30 Version
Macintosh and Windows Versions
File – Open Image
More changes were made so that more data sets in netcdf files would be handled correctly. In particular so that images would not be displayed upside down. An option was also added to the "Set Multispectral File Format Specifications" dialog box (Edit->Image Description...) to allow one to treat lines as being stored bottom to top in the image file for those cases when MultiSpec is not able to determine automatically if the data is stored bottom to top in the file.
MultiSpec will now handle jpeg formatted images.
MultiSpec will now determine the image orientation angle from Transformation tags in geotiff formatted files. (Also see note under Processor->Reformat->Change Image File Format.) This is useful for handling geotiff formatted ASTER image files.
I have done some work getting MultiSpec to handle hdf5 files. This is going to take more work before it is ready.
Edit->Image Map Parameters
Several changes were made in the "Set Map Coordinate Specifications" dialog box. In prior versions the Projection menu included both projections and reference systems like UTM. The Projection menu has been split into two menus. One is for reference systems like UTM - WGS84 or State Plane - NAD83. And the other is for projections (only). When one sets the reference system, then the parameters for the reference system are shown but they are not editable. If one changes the reference system menu to User Defined, one can change the parameters. MultiSpec will also be able handle a much broader range of the many state plane reference systems. Let me know if you feel that I have any of the settings wrong with this set up. Also note that even though this setup allows for a broader range of reference systems, it does not include all possible. Let me know if there is one that you use a lot that you would like to see added. To make this all work, it is important to keep the epsg_csv folder with the MultiSpec application on Windows systems. This folder is part of the MultiSpec application package on Macintosh systems so if one moves the application, this folder (not seen) goes with it automatically.
Processor->Cluster
Some changes were made in the default settings for critical distances for the Single Pass cluster and the threshold value for cluster classification to work better with images having 1200 or more channels. Also a message is presented to the user for these cases indicating that the text in the text window will be truncated after the first 2000 characters; one can write all of the information to a disk file.
Processor->Reformat->Change Image File Format
MultiSpec will now write out the transformation parameters when needed in geotiff formatted output files to represent the image orientation angle. This is helpful for images like ASTER. One can covert ASTER images from hdf format to geotiff format and save the image orientation angle to be read later by other applications. For example, ArcGIS will automatically rotate the image so that north is at the top since the transformation image is available in the geotiff file.
Processor->Classify
The parallel piped classifier (a non parametric classifier) has been added as an option. This is a simple classifier that assigns pixels to given class as long as the pixel is within some defined limits for each of the channels. This is described as a box. The default limit is plus/minus 2 standard deviations around the mean for each channel. If one holds the (option key down for Macintosh version or shift key down for Windows version) when one selects the Parallel Piped classifier option, the minimum and maximum values in the training statistics will be use. I will clean this up in later version so that a dialog box will be presented for additional distance designation options. Let me know if you have suggestions for this classifier. It is useful more as training than for a robust classifier for a broad range of cases.
Some students raised the question about how MultiSpec handles cases during classification when the minimum distance for a pixel to the closest class is actually the same for more than one class. MultiSpec uses the first class with that distance. In other words the algorithm is such that the distance has to be less than the previous closest distance for the closest class to change. A count for these situations has been added to the classification output for MultiSpec. The count is for total number of equal class distances so that one can see how often this happens; it is currently not broken down by class. This did not happen for my test classifications unless I actually had two classes which were identical. One can do some experiments to see under what situations this happens. This does happen frequently with the parallel piped classifer; in this case the "equal class distances" represents the number of times a pixel can be assigned to more than one class.
Macintosh Version
Text Window
There is a problem with how the Macintosh library handles tabs in the text output window. The text in the window is not displayed if the line contains more than 15-20 tabs. This appears to be a known problem with this particular routine but it will not updated since it is now legacy code. It appears I will need to convert MultiSpec from a "Carbon" application to a "Cocoa" application to resolve this problem. Note that one can still copy the text window to an excel spreadsheet or save to a disk file and get all of the information even though it is not displayed.
2012.2.20 Version
Macintosh and Windows Versions
File – Open Image
The gdal library is now used to handle tiff/geotiff image files rather than my own implimentation of the tiff/geotiff format. This allows MultiSpec to now handle the tiled variations that it could not do in previous versions and also handle tiff/geotiff files with compressed data. This was a large change; let me know if you find tiff/geotiff files that are now handled differently.
MultiSpec now handles more of the data sets in the netcdf files that I have recently been working with. Not sure if others have been limited by this or not.
MultiSpec now handles the Lambert Conformal Conic projection. In other words, it can translate between pixel location, Lambert Conformal Conic map location and Latitude/Longitude.
Edit->Image Map Parameters
The Geocentric Datum of Australia was added as an option for the Datum popup menu.
Processor->Display Multispectral Image
HRLDAS model output images in netCDF format are displayed correctly for north being up. By default these images are displayed with south at the top. Not sure if all cases will be caught though. This feature requires that HRLDAS be a part of the netCDF metadata information.
Processor->Cluster Image
A change was made in how the initial clusters were computed to take into account the situations were the min and max values of the data were very far from the bulk of the data. Sometimes these min/max values are actually nodata values. There were situations where one would end up with just two clusters ... the min/max data value and a single class for all of the other data. This was because all of the other clusters were initialized to be along the eigenvector between the min/max value and the rest of the data. The min/max values are not used for initializing the cluster centers if they are significantly far aware from the next largest value.
Processor->Reformat->Rectify Image
A problem was fix for case when images were rotated + or - 90 degrees. Additional lines or columns were being added.
Other items
The text window is now displayed initially in the upper right portion of the display for Mac OS X version or the upper right of the application window for Windows version. This was done so that it would not always be beneath the image window. Let me know if others have other suggestions on how to handle this.
Menu quick keys were added for Edit->Change Image Description, Edit->Image Map Parameters, Window->Show/Hide Coordinate View, Window->New Selection View, Window->Text Output and Window->Project.
If one holds the shift key down while selecting Processor->Utilities->List Image Description for hdf & netcdf formatted images with multiple data sets, the metadata for all data sets in the image will be listed rather than just the selected data set being displayed. Note that this can generate a lot of text.
The maximum number of lines and columns have been changed to 300,000. This does not mean one can load in an image that is 300,000 lines by 300,000 columns. This does allow for those cases when one has a very long vector of data that is 1 column by more than 200,000 lines or vice versa 1 line by more than 300,000 columns.
Macintosh Version
Processor->Open Image
A problem was fixed which caused netcdf files on machines with power pc processors to not be read correctly.