1. Technology Assessment Project POEC 6381 Fall 2001 Remote Sensing Software Assessment November 2, 2001 Sonia Monga John Baccellieri

2. Remote Sensing The science of obtaining information about an object, area, or phenomenon through the analysis of data acquired by a device not in contact with the “particular” under investigation Basically: satellite and aerial imagery acquisition and processing

3. Assessment Methodology Developed Requirements  Non-RS categories (cost, interoperability, support)  Three real world “scenarios” which have different RS requirements Developed “weightings”  For each scenario, reflect the relative importance of each requirement Narrowed assessment to four major vendors Reviewed literature to score a vendor’s ability to meet each scenario’s requirements. 1 to 10 (high) scoring: considered forced ranking, found it impractical Supplemented literature with a hands-on review of two vendors’ offerings Applied weightings to raw scores to find best vendor for each scenario

4. Remote Sensing Organizational Scenarios I. RS Project Oriented Image interpretation Digital analysis Map composition Example: detailed land use / land cover analysis and change detection: Fire damage analysis II. Organization Specializing in Application of RS and GIS Data acquisition Integrate with non-spatial data Analyze the combined RS and non-RS data Presentation of customized reports Example: Aerial photos merged with parcel data: Micro-level analysis of urban environments III. Organization With Primary Focus on GIS Quality of RS data less important Limited RS analysis required Example: Routing, Hydrological, Geological

5. Vendors Assessed ERDAS, Inc. www.erdas.com Imagine 8.5 2901 Buford Hwy NE Atlanta, GA 30329 404.248.9000 PCI Geomatics www.pcigeomatics.com Geomatica 50 W. Wilmont St. Richmond Hills, ON L4B1M5 905.764.0614 Earth Resource Mapping www.ermapper.com ER Mapper 6.2 4370 La Jolla Village Suite 900 San Diego, CA 92122 619.558.4709 Research Systems, Inc. www.rsinc.com ENVI 3.5 4990 Pearl E. Circle Boulder, CO 80301 303.786.9900

6. Assessment Limitations Limited to four well-reviewed tool suites Scenarios may not reflect real-life needs Made on vendor and 3 rd party reports Hands-on with ERDAS and ENVI only Weightings reflect the authors’ opinions GIS and RS tools are converging…wait? That said…

7. Selection Criteria: Remote Sensing Visual display and enhancement Classification Rectification and Geometric Registration Multiple data formats Orthophoto Creation RADAR Capabilities Web Capability Macro/Programming Language Extent of Vector Capability The Scores….

8. Remote Sensing Functionality Scores

9. Selection Criteria: Non-RS Interoperability with major GIS packages Performance (*) Cost / Value (*) Market Share/Installed Base Vendor Financial Stability (*) Vendor Support Services Versioning and Technology Plans Training Availability and Quality Learning Curve Hardware Platforms Supported Operating Systems Supported

10. Non-RS Functionality Scores

11. Totals

12. The Bottom Line in RS Software + ___________

13. Other Vendors Active Knowledge Kirchenstr 88 D-81675 Munich, Germany 49-89-458-6773-0, fax: 49-89-458-6773-9 Web: http://www.active-knowledge.dehttp://www.active-knowledge.de ESRI Inc. 380 New York St. Redlands CA 92373-9870 909-793-2853, fax: 909-793-5953 Web: http://www.esri.comhttp://www.esri.com Applied Analysis Inc. 630 Boston Road Suite 201 Billerica, MA 01821 978-663-6828 Web: http://www.discover-aai.comhttp://www.discover-aai.com LizardTech Inc. The Exchange Building, 18th Floor 821 Second Ave. Seattle, WA 98104 206-652-5211, fax: 206-652-0880 Web: http://www.lizardtech.comhttp://www.lizardtech.com Clark Labs 921 Main St. Worcester, MA 01610-1477 508-793-7526, fax: 508-793-8842 Web: http://www.clarklabs.orghttp://www.clarklabs.org MicroImages Inc. (****) Sharp Tower, 11th Floor 206 S. 13th St. Lincoln, NE 68508-2010 402-477-9554, fax: 402-477-9559 Web: http://www.microimages.comhttp://www.microimages.com Definiens AG Rindermarkt 7 80331 München, Germany 49-89-2311800, fax: 49-89-23118080 Web: http://www.definiens.comhttp://www.definiens.com Thinkspace Inc. 100 Collip Circle, Suite 225 London, ON N6G 4X8 Canada 519-858-5047, fax: 519-858-5048 Web: http://www.thinkspace.comhttp://www.thinkspace.com Z/I Imaging Corp. 301 Cochran Road, Suite 9 Huntsville, AL 35824 888-538-0713, fax: 256-730-6708 Web: http://www.ziimaging.comhttp://www.ziimaging.com