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Frequently Asked Questions
Questions about InfoPACK:
What does InfoPACK do?
Can I get a free evaluation version of InfoPACK?
What operating systems will InfoPACK run on?
How much memory do I need to run InfoPACK?
How large an image file can I work on?
What internal file format does InfoPACK use?
Do I have to convert my files to InfoSAR format to use InfoPACK?
Will InfoPACK read my Erdas Imagine files?
My data is in raw format: how do I use InfoPACK with it?
How do I view my images?
How can I purchase InfoPACK?
Do you offer an academic discount?
- What does InfoPACK do?
InfoPACK provides facilities for extracting information from remote sensing imagery. The algorithms implemented are
particularly suited to Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images, but InfoPACK is a
powerful tool for optical images too.
- Can I get a free evaluation version of InfoPACK?
Yes, evaluation versions
for PC Linux and Windows 2000/XP are now available. The 30-day
evaluation versions are restricted to processing images up to 256 x 256
pixels with the InfoPACK high-level routines. If you need a
demonstration using larger images either mail you requirements or take up our free image processing offer.
- What operating systems will InfoPACK run on?
InfoPACK is out now for PC Linux, Windows 2000/XP and Solaris. We
can provide versions for other systems if required.
- How much memory do I need to run InfoPACK?
InfoPACK will run on any modern PC. However, our recommendation for a basic
setup would be something like 128MB RAM with a CPU running at 500MHz. Largely,
the specification needs to be determined by the size of images you will be
using. The faster the machine and the more memory, the better.
- How large an image file can I work on?
All command-line scripts used by InfoPACK process files by reading a
square of 'tilesize' plus an 'overlap', processing the area, then
writing the result to file. User supplied options are available to vary
the 'tilesize' and the 'overlap' between tiles. The resulting image
will be free from obvious joins. By adopting this approach an
arbitrarily large file can be processed within memory.
- What internal file format does InfoPACK use?
The InfoSAR file format, used as the default file format with InfoPACK, is based on the
Unidata NetCDF
file format. NetCDF is a very flexible format that would allow something
as simple as a single image to be described in many different ways. It
would not be practicable for InfoPACK to be able to interpret all of
these different descriptions and so we have defined a simplified
format, based on NetCDF, known as the InfoSAR format.
The InfoSAR format allows
for a single image to be stored in a file along with geographic (GIS) information.
This single image may be comprised of several layers of images. It also supports multilayer complex data.
- Do I have to convert my files to InfoSAR format to use InfoPACK?
The InfoSAR format has been incorporated into the Geospatial Data Abstraction Library (GDAL).
GDAL is a translator library for raster geospatial data formats; at present, roughly 40
file formats are supported.
If your file format is supported by GDAL, then all InfoPACK routines will work on your data
directly without any conversion.
- Will InfoPACK read my Erdas Imagine files?
Full read and write support is provided with GDAL for Erdas Imagine files. InfoPACK
routines will work directly with IMG files. Export facilities from InfoSAR to IMG format
are provided through the GUI or using the gdal_translate utility.
- My data is in raw format: how do I use InfoPACK with it?
If the built-in import facilities do not cover your file format you can use the
general conversion routine raw2nc.py provided to convert your images into InfoSAR format.
A section on General File Formats is provided within
the InfoPACK documentation.
- How do I view my images?
Bundled with InfoPACK is OpenEV.
This open source viewer is well suited to handling large images of a wide
variety of formats. It also takes account of geo-referencing information when
provided and can produce overlay images (for example map data overlaid upon
co-registered SAR data).
- What documentation comes with InfoPACK?
InfoPACK comes with a hard-copy user guide. Pdf and html versions are also supplied,
as are html documentation for Python and Numerical Python.
- How can I purchase InfoPACK?
For a current pricelist, contact
us.
- Do you offer an academic discount?
Yes. Contact us for details.
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