Update on ERDAS ECW/JP2 SDK v5.0

As promised earlier.... here is an ERDAS ECW/JP2 SDK update

The ERDAS ECW/JP2 SDK (SDK) and ERDAS APOLLO Essentials Image Web Server (IWS) development teams in Perth, Western Australia are well along the way towards the latest version of the SDK, v5. The motivations behind this release of the SDK are increasing encoding performance, 16-bit ECW support, decreasing file size without lowering quality, expanding beyond Windows OS support (all without hurting decoding performance).

The best way to improve encoding performance is to more fully utilize system resources by expanding the use of multiple threads. This is being done.

In the v4.x SDK versions we see a 25MB/second encoding throughput of 3-band 8-bit image data. That is very fast for wavelet compression and we could have just sat on our hands and said, “We are the champions (my friend).”

But sitting back and wondering at our own accomplishments is not our way. Tests have confirmed SDK v5 is encoding 3-band 8-bit data between a 65 to 85MB/second. When encoding 3-band 16-bit data, encoding speeds close 25 MB/second are being observed. Final tuning will tell where we end up, but so far when using an 8-core CPU, encoding performance seems to be primarily limited by disk i/o.

To add support for 16-bit, we need to change the ECW file format. So, at the same time the Perth team decided to do some other things to the ECW file format. File format changes have provided a decrease in file size when using the previous target compression ratios. In short, smaller files with the same image quality (the preverbal ..yet true.. win-win scenario).

The work is being done to add support for Linux, with a foundation for the SDK to be ported to other OS versions as demand requires.

Also, metadata support in the new ECW v3 file format has been expanded. We have added better projection definition options, imbedded statistics (min, max, mean, median, mode, etc.), and much more.

Also provided when using the SDK to stream in ECW and JP2 encoded image data via ECWP from IWS, faster ECWP streaming. (BTW, in case you didn't know, ECWP performance leaves JPIP performance in the dust.)

There is one thing to note, the ECW v3 file format cannot be read by earlier ECW SDKs. The old v2 ECW file format could not be expanded to allow the file format improvements needed, so we created ECW v3. Of important note, the desktop read-only SDK will continue to be made available at no charge.

What is the ‘un-official’ time-table? Expect to see ERDAS ECW/JP2 SDK v5 in the ERDAS IMAGINE / LPS, ERDAS ER Mapper,  ERDAS APOLLO Essentials (aka IWS), and GDAL after the northern hemisphere’s autumnal equinox, and an upgrade of ERDAS' ECW for ArcGIS Server made available a few months following following the ERDAS Desktop releases.

Keep an eye on the ECW Web Page.

ERDAS Desktop 2011 Version 11.0.5 now available

ERDAS Desktop 2011, Version 11.0.5 is now available. This version fixes both internal and customer reported issues and contains enhancements as well. One installer will install ERDAS IMAGINE, ERDAS ER Mapper and LPS. It is available to customer with and without support.

There is no need to install the previous 11.0.1, 11.0.2, 11.0.3 and 11.0.4 versions as 11.0.5 contains all the items in those versions.

ERDAS 2012 is due later this year, so 11.0.5 may be the final 2011 version.

To download, see: ERDAS IMAGINE Product Download Page

ERDAS Desktop 2011 Version 11.0.5 almost ready

The ERDAS desktop teams are completing the next version of ERDAS IMAGINE, LPS and ERDAS ER Mapper, ERDAS Desktop 2011 Version 11.0.5. This version will be mostly a maintenance release of customer needed items, but there will be some customer requested enhancements as well. This version will likely be the final for ERDAS Desktop 2011, as we are well into the development of ERDAS Desktop 2012.


Before late April 2012, visit the ERDAS IMAGINE, LPS or ERDAS ER Mapper product download page at erdas.com to get your copy of this new version. Your ERDAS Desktop 2011 licenses will work with v11.0.5.

ERDAS ER Mapper Development Team

Intergraph has stood up an ERDAS ER Mapper Development Team in India in the city of Hyderabad state of Andhra Pradesh. I visited the development team last week. The Hyderabad development development team is working with the Norcross, Georgia development teams to deliver remote sensing software products to the GIS community. I do believe good things will come from the Hyderabad  ERDAS ER Mapper Development Team in the ERDAS Desktop 2012 release, as well as into the future.

BTW, Intergraph was one of the first software groups to open an office in India, beginning way back in 1987. Now you see Amazon, ADP, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and more are in Hyderabad. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_industry_in_Andhra_Pradesh.

Hexagon merges ERDAS into Intergraph

There seems to be a little confusion in the market-place concerning Intergraph and ERDAS.  At the end of July 2011, Hexagon merged ERDAS into Intergraph. All ERDAS employees, products and services are now Intergraph Employees developing new products based on ERDAS products, as well as supporting ERDAS customers using those products.

Customers of ERDAS products will continue to communicate with ERDAS employees and use erdas.com. The transition should be transparent to customers, as legal and back-office changes have formed the majority of the changes.

You will still find Brad Skelton, Ian Anderson, Jeff Dooley, Mladen Stojic, myself, and many more Erdasians in the Norcross (metro Atlanta) office. You will find Laura Ramage, Michelle and Joe Mostowy, Andy Garratt, Dean McCormick, Mike Lane, and many other Erdasians scattered around the globe. As well, some of the old-time ER Mapper employees are still around, such as Mark Sheridan, Chris Ribble, and more. You will find Ionic employees such as Niko Vanraes, Dimitri Monie, and others still hard at work as well.

In my opinion, the change can be considered somewhat like Coca-Cola purchasing Dr. Pepper... there was no change in the wildly successful Dr. Pepper formula.

Where will this fusion take us, while I cannot say exactly what is happening on my blog, I can say that my earlier post of  "Hexagon 2011; the razing of the wall" and what we started with in ERDAS IMAGINE 2011, V11.0.4 should be strong clues.

ERDAS Desktop 2011, Version 11.0.4 Released

Intergraph has released ERDAS Desktop 2011, Version 11.0.4. The new version is available for download from the ERDAS IMAGINE, ERDAS ER Mapper and LPS product download webpages.

This is more than a maintenance release. There are enhancements, as well as Intergraph has added new capabilities to strengthen the ties between the GeoMedia and ERDAS Desktop products. Expect more announcements by Intergraph later this year (2012) of tighter integration between the GeoMedia and ERDAS Desktop product lines.

The ERDAS Desktop 11.0.4 Version Description is located here: http://www.erdas.com/service/support/fixes_enhancements/ERDASIMAGINE2011.aspx

Until more announcements are made, please refer to Field Guide posts: http://field-guide.blogspot.com/2011/05/erdas-imagine-and-geomedia-where-are.htmlhttp://field-guide.blogspot.com/2011/06/hexagon-2011-razing-of-wall.html

ERDAS 2011 ECW Plug-in for ArcGIS Desktop, Version 11.1 Released

The latest product based on the ERDAS ECW/JP2 SDK has been released. It can be found on the ECW Plug-in Download page, http://erdas.com/products/ecw/ECWPlugins/Downloads.aspx.

The free plug-in enables high performance display and opacity support for ECW data within ArcGIS Desktop. This version of the plug-in adds supports discovery, access and visualization of data via WMS or ECWP from ERDAS APOLLO Essentials – Image Web Server or ERDAS APOLLO Advantage within ArcGIS Desktop.

Algorithm support allows the user to perform image processing while streaming from the ERDAS APOLLO suite into ArcGIS Desktop.

LightSquared and GPS still in the news

Sanjiv Ahuja talked to C-SPAN on September 29, 2011 about LightSquared's work to build a $14 billion high-speed wireless network across the US, interfering with precision GPS use. It will be satellite based and will improve networking capacity across the USA, yet the network will interfere with some of the spectrum used by global positioning system (GPS) equipment.

LightSquared obtained the spectrum from their predecessor companies purchases, who purchased the spectrum decades ago. American Mobile Satellite Corporation, Mobile Satellite Ventures, and Skyterra preceded LightSquared.

I believe you can skip the first 5:29 to hear Sanjiv talk about the GPS conflict. Mr Ahuja has been well coached in presenting his case and staying on message. (I do not use the term 'coached' in a negative way. I believe all CEOs of large companies should be coached.)

Sanjiv is selling how LightSquared will help people, how LightSquared is the underdog, how LightSquared will bring new jobs, how LightSquared will save people money, how LightSquared will help the students. He even discusses how LightSquared will help the video gaming industry. Sounds like a political campaign strategy, get as many people to connect with your piont of view as possible. :)

Cecilia Kang (Washington Post, Technology Policy Reporter) starts QA at 13:30. She does a pretty good job. She asks him to discuss claims of competitors linking up with political powers to stop LightSquared starting at 47:00.

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/301812-1/
http://www.saveourgps.org/
Additional Field Guide Post:
http://field-guide.blogspot.com/2011/04/potential-gps-signal-reception-problems.html

ECW for ArcGIS Server, Version 11.0.2, released

Here is the latest from marketing on one product I manage:

ERDAS Releases ECW for ArcGIS Server, Version 11.0.2
September 28, 2011

Norcross, GA, USA — ERDAS proudly announces the release of ECW for ArcGIS Server, version 11.0.2. This product provides a means for ArcGIS Server to deliver data in the ERDAS-patented Enhanced Compression Wavelet (ECW) format to clients via OGC-compliant Web Coverage Service (WCS) and Web Map Service (WMS).

Based on technology originally provided in ERDAS ECW/JP2 SDK version 4.2, ECW for ArcGIS Server enables ArcGIS Server to support ECW imagery, providing the fastest decompression available. Using minimal memory, ECW can quickly decompress and open massive files, in many cases faster than uncompressed imagery can be opened. Additionally, multi-resolution level of detail is built into the file, eliminating the need to generate or distribute pyramids or overviews. The ECW technique does not require the creation and storage of intermediate tiles (RRDs), as they are an inherent part of the ECW format. ECW also supports opacity channels, allowing images to overlay other imagery cleanly without showing compression artifacts around the edges.

Initially introduced in April 2011, ECW for ArcGIS Server was greeted enthusiastically by the market, prompting this new release which extends the original capabilities. A key enhancement in ECW for ArcGIS Server version 11.0.2 is backward compatibility with ArcGIS Server 9.3 and 9.3.1 in addition to the previously supported ArcGIS Server 10. ECW for ArcGIS Server version 11.0.2 also supports the use of European Petroleum Survey Group (EPSG) codes in ECWP.

ECW for ArcGIS Server expands the industry-wide level of support for the ECW format. ECW is already supported in traditional desktop GIS, CAD and remote sensing packages, including ERDAS’ portfolio of products, as well as Intergraph’s GeoMedia®. In addition, ECW is also supported in ArcGIS® for Desktop, AutoCAD®, Blue Marble Desktop®, ENVI®, Geomatica®, LizardTech®, GeoExpress®, FalconView™, Global Mapper, MapInfo®, Manifold® System, MicroStation®, and Smallworld™.

“ERDAS created ECW for ArcGIS Server in response to overwhelming user demand. For any geospatial organization requiring an accelerated workflow and reduction of hardware costs, ECW is the compression format of choice,” said Paul Beaty, Technical Product Manager, ERDAS. “Its popularity stems from the fact that it doesn’t merely compress files; it simplifies their handling by making them faster to decompress and transfer. ERDAS is committed to providing rapid geospatial data delivery for organizations using any software platform."

ECW Page
ECW for ArcGIS Server Page

ECW for ArcGIS Server soon to add support for 9.3 and 9.3.1

Within the next few weeks, ERDAS will release an update to ECW for ArcGIS Server. The new version will add support for ArcGIS Server 9.3, and 9.3.1 to the present support for ArcGIS Server 10. The initial product offering has been very well received and customer demand for support of 9.3 and 9.3.1 will soon be addressed. Keep a watchful eye for the official announcement.

The True Storage Cost of Uncompressed Imagery

In the past, we have used 0-level (full resolution) image data and compared its file size to compressed files to determine disk space savings. This approach works when comparing uncompressed data to JPEG, LZW and other non-wavelet compressed images. This approach does not work when comparing full resolution image data to wavelet compressed (e.g. ECW) data formats.

To get good display performance when using large images, reduced resolution datasets (also known as RRDs, OVR, subsample images, pyramid layers) must be pre-calculated and stored with the full resolution data. There are several RRD storage methods, but the most popular is a progressive 4x reduction from the full resolution layer down through each RRD layer, usually down to a size close to 64x64 pixels. The 4x reduction scheme will deliver RRDs which adds 33% to the disk storage requirement already needed by the full resolution data.

Wavelet based formats such as ECW natively contain a full suite of internal RRDs within its file structure. The correct way to compare disk space savings between non-wavelet image formats and wavelet image formats is to compare the non-wavelet image plus its required RRDs disk storage requirement to the wavelet data disk storage requirement.

For example, take an 750GB of image and add 33% for the needed RRDs (assuming using a 4x scheme); the disk space needed for good performance and daily use is 998GB. That’s a lot of space.

If I achieve a 25:1 ECW compression, my ECW file requires 4% of the disk space needed for the full resolution data, and 3% of the total disk space needed (full resolution plus RRDs). The 998GB needed for full resolution imagery plus its RRDS shrank down to 30GB when ECW compressed.

If I achieve a 15:1 ECW compression, my ECW file requires 6.7% f the disk space needed for the full resolution data, and 5% of the total disk space needed for full resolution plus RRDs.

That's a lot of disk space recovered with a just few minutes of compression. Plus, the display time of the ECW is often faster than the display of the uncompressed data. Sometimes much faster.

ERDAS ECW/JP2 SDK for Linux

The long awaited port of ERDAS ECW/JP2 SDK to Linux is well underway. Indeed, we expect the Perth, Western Australia development team to reach the performance tuning stage of the port in the next few months. The Linux ECW SDK port must be tuned-up to match the Ferrari-like performance our customers expect and have on the Windows platforms. If we did not tune it up, it would not be an ECW SDK.

ERDAS will use the Linux ECW SDK internally in ERDAS 2012 server products. Once the ERDAS 2012 Linux products are ready to release, commercialization work (preparing for public release) on the Linux ECW SDK will begin. I cannot provide the time-frame for availability at this time.

Please expect more information on the Linux version of ERDAS ECW/JP2 SDK before the northern hemisphere winter solstice.