It really has only been in the past few years that desktop PCs and Macintosh computers have become powerful enough to make working with satellite imaging a reality. A variety of software is available for these computers for processing satellite imagery.

There are quite a few commercial imaging processing programs available today. Perhaps the most well known is Adobe Photoshop. Photoshop is a commercial program and costs over $500, but I highly recommend it for anyone that wants a very powerful image processing program. Although I bought Photoshop initially for enhancing scanned family photographs, I find it is great for working with satellite imagery. Photoshop can open a wide range of file formats. I have had no problem opening multi channel Landsat imagery using Photoshop's RAW file format.

If you don't already have an image processing program like Adobe Photoshop, you might want to try one of the FREE software programs listed below. These programs can be downloaded via the Internet.

A useful DOS program is SatTo8. SatTo8 is a command line utility for converting 8, 10, or 16-bit grayscale images into standard 8-bit TIF or BMP formats. It will also run within a DOS window under the Windows operating system.

Windows and Macintosh users should investigate MultiSpec. It was developed at Purdue University under a government contract. MultiSpec had no problem opening the Landsat satellite images I tested it with. In fact it appears it can open a very wide range of digital imagery.

A very interesting way of displaying satellite images is to render them in 3D. I have had very good results using the program POV-RAY. An example of a 3D rendering generated from Landsat data is shown below. If you're interested in making such images yourself, click here for more information.

Windows PC users should also check out the freeware program Landscape Explorer 2000. for making 3D renderings of images.

Phoenix, AZ rendered in exaggerated 3D relief

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