ERDAS IMAGINE 2015 RELEASE NOTES

Version 15.00.0000 November 13, 2014

ERDAS IMAGINE 2015

November 13, 2014 2

Contents

About this Release ...................................................................................................................................... 4

ERDAS IMAGINE® ........................................................................................................................................ 4

New Platforms .............................................................................................................................................. 4

Virtualization ............................................................................................................................................ 4

New Technology .......................................................................................................................................... 5

Point Cloud .............................................................................................................................................. 5 Reproject Point Cloud data ............................................................................................................... 5 Profile Roam using Existing Vector .................................................................................................. 5 Volumetric Analysis (cut/fill) from Point Cloud .................................................................................. 5 LAS attribute Viewing – Table view & Form view ............................................................................. 5 Burn Point Cloud Display color into RGB attributes ......................................................................... 5 Compressed, Fast Point Cloud Display ............................................................................................ 5 Tridicon SGM .................................................................................................................................... 6 Raster DEM editing enhancement in Terrain Editor ......................................................................... 6

RADAR .................................................................................................................................................... 6 Ortho Radar enhancement ............................................................................................................... 6 New Sensor Support ........................................................................................................................ 6

Format Support ....................................................................................................................................... 6 WMS performance improvement ...................................................................................................... 6 Upgraded to Latest MrSID Encode and Decode SDKs .................................................................... 6 Improve all TIFF variation reading performance, especially for Strip (BIL) TIFF read ..................... 6 Improve JP2 reading performance for all JP2 profiles ..................................................................... 6 Improve Virtual Mosaic (VMCx) performance .................................................................................. 6 Upgrade Export ECW ....................................................................................................................... 6 Update to EPSG v8.5 Projections Database .................................................................................... 7 ZY-3 (RPC support) .......................................................................................................................... 7 WorldView-3 ..................................................................................................................................... 7

Zonal Change Detection Workflow ......................................................................................................... 7 Zonal Change Process Tab .............................................................................................................. 8 Zonal Change Review Tab ............................................................................................................... 8

ORIMA ..................................................................................................................................................... 8 Rotate display in Map views ............................................................................................................. 8 Activate Images by Camera ID: ........................................................................................................ 8 Maximum size of Correction Grid: .................................................................................................... 8 APM is available as 64bit process .................................................................................................... 8

PRO600................................................................................................................................................... 8 Auto load Next Stereo model ............................................................................................................ 8 Import/Export DTM Merge assignments ........................................................................................... 8 Dynamics update with MicroStation Commands .............................................................................. 9

Customize ERDAS IMAGINE.................................................................................................................. 9 Ribbonized GeoPoint tool ....................................................................................................................... 9 Smart Control .......................................................................................................................................... 9 Preview & Open Raster as Image Chain .............................................................................................. 10 New Operators (and features) for Spatial Modeler ............................................................................... 10

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Issues Resolved .................................................................................................................................... 13

Improved Performance ............................................................................................................................. 13

MosaicPro Improvements ..................................................................................................................... 13

About Hexagon Geospatial ....................................................................................................................... 14

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About this Release This document describes the enhancements for ERDAS IMAGINE, including IMAGINE Photogrammetry (formerly LPS Core) and ERDAS ER Mapper. Although the information in this document is current as of the product release, see the Hexagon Geospatial Support website for the most current version. This release includes both enhancements and fixes. For information on fixes that were made to ERDAS IMAGINE for this release, see the Issues Resolved report on the Hexagon Geospatial Support website for a specific product. This document is only an overview and does not provide all of the details about the product's capabilities. See the online help and other documents provided with ERDAS IMAGINE for more information.

ERDAS IMAGINE®

ERDAS IMAGINE® performs advanced remote sensing analysis and spatial modeling to create new information. In addition, with ERDAS IMAGINE, you can visualize your results in 2D, 3D, movies, and on cartographic-quality map compositions. The core of the ERDAS IMAGINE product suite is engineered to scale with your geospatial data production needs. Optional modules (add-ons) providing specialized functionalities are also available to enhance your productivity and capabilities.

IMAGINE Essentials® is the entry-level image processing product for map creation and simple feature collection tools.

IMAGINE Essentials enables serial batch processing.

IMAGINE Advantage® enables advanced spectral processing, image registration, mosaicking and image analysis, and

change detection capabilities. IMAGINE Advantage enables parallel batch processing for accelerated output.

IMAGINE Professional® includes a production toolset for advanced spectral, hyperspectral, and radar processing, and spatial

modeling. Includes ERDAS ER Mapper.

New Platforms

Virtualization Application Virtualization is a mechanism to separate a software application from the operating system on which it is being accessed or executed. A virtualized application is generally not installed in the traditional sense although it may be executed as if it were. From an Information Technology standpoint this has many advantages, not least the ability to install (and maintain and update) an application once, but deploy it to many computers or users. ERDAS IMAGINE has been tested against several such technologies including Microsoft Application Virtualization 5.0.1104.0 and Citrix XenApp 6.0.0.0. While ERDAS IMAGINE 2015 is Supported with Microsoft Application Virtualization, it is considered Viable with XenApp Session Virtualization.

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New Technology

Point Cloud

Reproject Point Cloud data Point Cloud data (especially LiDAR) is often acquired, and is usually made available, in the Geographic Latitude/Longitude, WGS84 coordinate system, rather than a projection that matches your geospatial project. Consequently there is a need to reproject Point Cloud data in both horizontal and vertical coordinate systems This is now available as both a GUI-based tool and as a Spatial Modeler operator for inclusion into larger workflows.

Profile Roam using Existing Vector In prior version of ERDAS IMAGINE roaming along a path required manually digitizing the profile path. Whereas in most instances customers have their own vector databases which they wish to use. In ERDAS IMAGINE 2015 you can use a selected set of features from an existing vector (Shapefile) database to define the path, thus increasing productivity and reducing potential errors that may be introduced during digitizing.

Volumetric Analysis (cut/fill) from Point Cloud Point clouds, whether obtained via scanning or derived photogram metrically, provide valuable 3D information including volumetric information. Volumetric analysis is an important part of work in the Transportation and mining industry for determining earthwork activities. ERDAS IMAGINE 2015 provides users with easy to use GUI-based volumetric analysis tools and Spatial Modeler operators to incorporate in workflows.

LAS attribute Viewing – Table view & Form view ERDAS IMAGINE 2015 provides the ability to read metadata per point and display that information as either a form view per point or as a scrollable table of all points.

Burn Point Cloud Display color into RGB attributes In ERDAS IMAGINE, Point clouds can be displayed using any of their attributes. The display color can now be burned into the point cloud data as an RGB attribute. This is useful for applications that require Point Clouds to have RGB information.

Compressed, Fast Point Cloud Display Point clouds are often very large. One of the challenges of storing point cloud data on a server and accessing it across a network is visualization performance. Hexagon Point Cloud (HPC) format is optimized for rapid point cloud display regardless of the size nor the location. Steaming HPC data over the internet is done with a Hexagon Point Cloud Proxy (HPCP) using ECWP protocol. The new format allows a user to store the point cloud remotely on a server while keeping the ability to seamlessly roam, inspect and make measurements on these massive datasets. ERDAS IMAGINE 2015 capabilities will include

Export LAS and LAZ to HPC format

2D View display and styling

Profile displays and measurement

3D Point Cloud View display and styling

Use in operators and tools that require/accept point cloud data as input

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Tridicon SGM With the wider availability of high resolution aerial and satellite imagery, the demand for dense, highly accurate digital surface models has increased. Semi global matching (SGM) has become the preferred method for generating accurate, dense point clouds. SGM uses pixel-wise, mutual information (Ml)-based matching cost and a smoothness constraint to generate dense surface models. In prior versions, ERDAS IMAGINE has included SGM for generating point clouds from digital cameras. In 2015, this is extended to support stereo satellite data. All these datasets can be used in the Spatial Modeler and elsewhere in ERDAS IMAGINE to create a host of value added products ranging from volumetric calculations, to siting applications and change detection.

Raster DEM editing enhancement in Terrain Editor To optimize display and editing performance of very large DEM datasets, a DEM is now loaded as point data and triangulated only when user performs tasks that require the data to be triangulated. AOI based editing, where an AOI is drawn to define the edit boundary, is also introduced leading to an improved editing performance

RADAR

Ortho Radar enhancement Ortho Radar tool is integrated within the IMAGINE ribbon interface. Resampling and reprojection of Radar data is streamlined to be run in a single process

New Sensor Support Support for the following new sensors is added.

KOMPSAT-5 SAR

RISAT-1 SAR

PalSAR-2 SAR

TanDEM-X SAR

Format Support

WMS performance improvement A new view layer type is provided for better WMS performance, including a tree layer in the Table of Contents, enabling different layers to be turned on and off and default access to the Hexagon Content Program service. To use this new capability select File / Open / Web Mapping Service.. (not the older, more generic, Web Service.. option).

Upgraded to Latest MrSID Encode and Decode SDKs Support x86 (32-bit) and x64 (64-bit) MrSID for read Support x86 (32-bit) and x64 (64-bit) MrSID for write

Improve all TIFF variation reading performance, especially for Strip (BIL) TIFF read

Improve JP2 reading performance for all JP2 profiles

Improve Virtual Mosaic (VMCx) performance

Upgrade Export ECW

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Add Subset Capability to Export ECW when using AOI or Shapefile

Allow Customer to modify Output Pixel Size on new Advanced tab

Allow Customer to modify Encoding Threads on new Advanced tab

Allow Customer to modify Encoding Cache on new Advanced tab

Allow Customer to modify Background Color (ECW v3 only) on new Advanced tab

Allow Customer to modify Resampling Method on new Advanced tab

Persist NODATA Layers and Values from Input into ECW NODATA Layers

Improve ECW v2 speed when generating NODATA Layers

Always create ECW NODATA Layers for ECW v2 and v3

Improve ECW v3 quality when the data type is >8-bit data

Update to EPSG v8.5 Projections Database The International Association of Oil and Gas Producers EPSG database is an extensive collection of coordinate reference systems (CRS) and coordinate transformations. Upgrading to v8.5 also includes updating several of ERDAS IMAGINE’s Projection Library (PLB) files used by ERDAS IMAGINE and ERDAS ER Mapper.

ZY-3 (RPC support) RPC sensor support for Ziyuan 3 (ZY-3), a Chinese high resolution Imaging Satellite launched on Jan 9 2012.

WorldView-3 DigitalGlobe’s WorldView-3 imagery format and sensor model information is already supported in ERDAS IMAGINE 2014 v14.1 and Spectral Attribute Files (SAFs) are provided in ERDAS IMAGINE 2015 to make false color display band selections and pan sharpening easier.

Zonal Change Detection Workflow Detect change within a zone (typically a polygon) using imagery of two different dates. The new zonal-centric change detection algorithms provide more accurate change detection than the earlier zonal change process provided. Not only are the results better, the enabling of simultaneous processing of multiple zones using ERDAS IMAGINE’s batch tools get you the answers you need faster than ever. A new zonal change detection user interface (layout) is also available to create a project workflow. This new layout provides user interface tools to support project management. These tools improve productivity for small projects, and large projects with a team of staff members working on the same project. The layout simplifies the workflow in a manner where the expert is only needed for project setup and managing the project. The project management tools track the change of a zone change definition (Changed, Unchanged, Unprocessed, Unknown, or Needs Review), who changed it, and when it was changed. Reports can be generated to a tab delimitated text file in order to chart project productivity, and more.

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Zonal Change Process Tab The zonal change Process Tab is introduced to streamline project creation and process launch. The processing tab provides tools to create regions of zones using spatial and attribute based selections (a region is a group of zones). The processing tab also provides tools to select the sensitivity of the algorithm to change, to feature detail, and to shadows within zones. The zonal change detection process can process change using serial or parallel processing modes. The parallel processing mode is provided in the batch tools using multiple ERDAS Engine licenses.

Zonal Change Review Tab The zonal change Review Tab provides a streamlined review tool. In all change detection processes, there are false positives and false negatives. The review tab provides tools to review zonal change likelihood in a very efficient manner, finding and addressing false positives and false negatives. The review tab minimizes the time needed to review questionable zones for their change. Zones can be prioritized by a change likelihood metric, zone attributes, or spatial orientation. This allows the project to be organized to review the highest priority change areas first.

ORIMA

Rotate display in Map views A new display feature allows users to rotate the block in the three object windows. This simplifies the analysis in case the flight lines are not East-West or North-South.

Activate Images by Camera ID: A new option to activate images by their camera ID is provided. This is especially useful for sensors with multiple cameras on one platform like e.g. the RCD30 Penta configuration. This option allows to activate, for example, a certain sideways looking camera.

Maximum size of Correction Grid: The maximum size of the correction grid was extended to handle larger frame sensors.

APM is available as 64bit process This allows handling of a larger number of images and it speeds up the execution time. The use of the 64bit version must be specified in the IMAGINE configuration manager.

PRO600

Auto load Next Stereo model Automatic Stereo model / Image pair loading is implemented for applications that use viewplex as their stereo viewing platform. This feature automatically loads the next image pair/ stereo model as you come close to the edge of the current stereo model / image pair.

Import/Export DTM Merge assignments The PRODTM Merge Terrain Dataset tool allows you to merge MicroStation design files into a terrain dataset. The merge tool assignments options specify how the vector features are to be merged (for example, as breaklines or to flatten the terrain within a given area). The merge assignment settings can now be exported / imported for use in subsequent merge operations.

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Dynamics update with MicroStation Commands Dynamics, also known as rubber-banding, shows where a feature would be placed if you entered a data point at the current cursor location in a stereo model. When using any of the PROCART data collection tools, dynamics will be drawn in stereo in the graphic overlay (stereo viewer). This has been extended to include features collected with Microstation commands.

Customize ERDAS IMAGINE Create customized Ribbon layouts to simplify and streamline workflows

Save custom Layouts to the Layout Gallery

Start ERDAS IMAGINE using customized Layout

Turn on/off existing Tabs

Rename Tabs

Re-order, reorganize and remove existing Groups, buttons and controls

Control display properties of command buttons and controls

Add (and name) new Tabs and Groups

Populate new Groups by drag-n-dropping Commands

Add new buttons to launch Spatial Models

Set Keyboard Shortcuts for Commands

Ribbonized GeoPoint tool Placing Annotation GeoPoint labels has been streamlined by moving the configuration tools from a pop-up dialog to a Ribbon tab. Since all necessary tools are now gathered onto a single tab the user can control the styling of their GeoPoint labels while placing them without needing to swap between different locations in the user interface.

Smart Control Provides View controls embedded within the View itself. The advantage of this is that if Views have been undocked and moved to other screens the controls are still easily accessible without needing to move the mouse cursor back to the screen where the Ribbon is based. The Smart Control also provides for a common interface to be shared between other Hexagon Geospatial applications such as Smart Client.

Hides when the mouse cursor moves away from it

Built-in controls provide

Zoom in / out buttons

Scale slider

Rotate

Pan North/South and East/West by half a screen

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Other buttons are customizable

Defaults are provided for common actions such as the Pan Hand, Fit to Frame, Inquire Cursor, etc.

However the user is free to customize the list from any of the standard Ribbon interface commands by simply right-clicking on it and selecting “Add to Smart Control”

Preview & Open Raster as Image Chain Customers now have full control over the display properties of Spatial Model Previews via a new technology termed the Image Chain. The Image Chain provides a greater degree of control over the display styling of the raster information being streamed to the display. Images default to an appropriate display mode (e.g. Relief for DEM data) Switch seamlessly between display modes for an open image or preview

Multispectral

Panchromatic

Pseudocolor

Thematic

Relief

Integrated Stretch Panel for defining radiometric enhancements

New Basic Gaussian stretch operator provides a means of applying a Gaussian stretch on 16-bit and higher data types

All stretch types can be easily and quickly inverted

DRA (Live Update based on the statistics of the currently displayed extent) works with all Stretch types. Gallery of pre-defined color ramps for quickly colorizing imagery

Assists in visual interpretation of thermal imagery, SAR, relief shading, etc.

Instantaneous preview of the effects of each color ramp in the Gallery

A Preserve Color option is now available with several of the Stretch types to prevent the “normalization”, or shifting of means, which ordinarily happens when statistical stretches are applied to the displayed bands independently. Most evident when displaying True Color band combinations this prevents shifting of colors.

New Operators (and features) for Spatial Modeler

New Operators have been introduced in support of the Image Chain, notably several related to applying different types of image stretches

Image Segmentation FLS operator will take a vector layer as input to act as a constraint. The boundaries of the input vector layer will become boundaries within the segmentation itself

Rapid Atmospheric operator computes the radiometric transform from raw DN values to atmospherically-corrected normalized ground reflectance of an input raster scaled from 0-10000 from multi and hyper

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spectral imagery. This operator can currently only be applied to imagery with standard companion meta-data files for supported sensor types (currently Quickbird 2 (MS 4-band), WordView 2 (MS 4-band and 8-band), and RapidEye 5-band). More sensors will be supported in the future.

Visual RGB operator provides for auto-stretched and gamma-compensated 8-bit RGB output from a multi-spectral 16-bit InputRaster. Its main purpose is to prepare image for rendering into 8-bit displays without any further stretch thereby preserving the intended natural tri-chromatic color balance between the displayed bands.

Point Cloud Reproject operator reprojects a Point Cloud to create a new Point Cloud with the specified output Coordinate Reference System (CRS) including both horizontal and vertical datum shifts.

Point Cloud Volume operator computes the volume of a cut or stockpile from Point Cloud data

Ctrl-A selects all Operators in current Model

Don’t have to zoom out and drag a box to select all operators for deletion or copy

Surface Operators automatically use the vertical coordinate information from the input raster

Vertical units can therefore be defaulted from the input

Launching a Model from Retriever now populates default parameters correctly

Models can be executed from IMAGINE Essentials

Send To Word / PPT / JPEG from Spatial Model Editor

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Issues Resolved Please refer to the separate ERDAS IMAGINE 2015 Issues Resolved document for a full listing of all issues addressed in the ERDAS IMAGINE 2015 release

Improved Performance

MosaicPro Improvements

General speed-up for all output formats

New preferences allow hardware specific performance tuning

ECW creation speed improved by 3x in most situations

Persist ECW NoData layers into output file formats

Create ECW NoData layers in ECW v3 (v2 NoData Layers created in earlier versions)

Calculate statistics and histograms and store inside ECW v3 and in AUX files for ECW v2

Command line options added for band selections

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About Hexagon Geospatial Hexagon Geospatial helps you make sense of the dynamically changing world. Known globally as a maker of leading-edge technology, we enable our customers to easily transform their data into actionable information, shortening the lifecycle from the moment of change to action. Hexagon Geospatial provides the software products and platforms to a large variety of customers through direct sales, channel partners, and Hexagon businesses, including the underlying geospatial technology to drive Intergraph

® Security, Government & Infrastructure (SG&I)

industry solutions. Hexagon Geospatial is a division of Intergraph® Corporation. For more information, visit

www.hexagongeospatial.com. Intergraph

® Corporation is part of Hexagon (Nordic exchange: HEXA B). Hexagon is a leading global provider of

design, measurement and visualisation technologies that enable customers to design, measure and position objects, and process and present data. Learn more at www.hexagon.com. © 2014 Intergraph

® Corporation. All rights reserved. Intergraph is part of Hexagon. Intergraph and the Intergraph logo are registered

trademarks of Intergraph Corporation or its subsidiaries. Hexagon and the Hexagon logo are registered trademarks of Hexagon AB or its subsidiaries. All other trademarks or servicemarks used herein are property of their respective owners. Intergraph believes the information in this publication is accurate as of its publication date. Such information is subject to change without notice. ASSET ID # HERE