Source: http://hdfeos.org/workshops/ws02/presentations/schwenke/schwenke.ppt

1. HDF and HDF-EOS Tools
George Schwenke
Raytheon STX
schwenke@rattler.gsfc.nasa.gov
HDF-EOS Workshop II

2. Many tools currently exist for visualization and
manipulation of HDF files
Development of tools useful for HDF-EOS has
been slow...
The limited availability of actual HDF-EOS data
has been one significant factor delaying tools
development...
HDF-EOS Data S Sampler 1
HDF-EOS Workshop II

3. A Necessary Distinction:
Utility - typically runs from the
command line and performs a specific
data manipulation function
examples:
make24 ristosds
Convert Raster Image Sets to Scientific
Data Sets
hdfls
List contents of an HDF file (tags
and reference numbers)
HDF-EOS Workshop II

4. Tool - a complete application performing
significant data manipulation and processing
functions
examples:
HDF
The NCSA Java-based HDF Viewer (JHV) - A Java-based
implementation of an HDF Viewer.
DIAL (Data Information and Access Link) from ESDIS - browsing,
plotting, subsampling and subsetting of HDF and HDF-EOS data.
HDF Browser from Fortner Software - allows access to data stored in
HDF formatted files
Reference
http://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu/tools.html
HDF-EOS Workshop II

5. Three categories of HDF-EOS Tools
ESDIS Project Tools
Other “Government” Tools
Commercial Tools
HDF-EOS Workshop II

6. ESDIS Project Tools
DIAL - Data and Information Access Link
Capable of
• searching
• browsing
• downloading
• viewing
• subsampling
• subsetting
HDF and HDF-EOS Data
HDF-EOS Workshop II

7. ESDIS Project Tools
EOSView (new version 3.0 released Aug 98)
Demonstrated during 1st day of Workshop
Many data searching, manipulation and display
functions (like DIAL), doesn’t have the capability
to act as a data server
HDF-EOS Workshop II

8. “Government” Tools
View_hdf (from LaRC)
HDF only; uses IDL
WebWinds from JPL
plus a wealth of work for HDF
from NCSA, including JHV
HDF-EOS Workshop II

9. Government Tools (continued):
HDF-EOS DataBlade (developed
by ECOlogic)
Extends capabilities
of Informix Data
Base to HDF-EOS
data
HDF-EOS Workshop II

10. Commercial Tools
Noesys (Fortner Software LLC)
HDF Explorer (Mind)
HDF-EOS Workshop II

11. Commercial Tools
ENVI/IDL - Environment for
Visualizing Images (RSI)
IDL 5.2 has full support for HDF-EOS;
ENVI will follow
MATLAB Version 5.3
supports
HDF-EOS
HDF-EOS Workshop II

12. Summary of response to the HDF-EOS Tools Survey
16 responses -- 5 gov; 4 edu; 7 com
All but 1 are “developing HDF-EOS tools”
Most “don’t know” when they’ll be ready...
Tools to be developed…
• Java JNI Interface
• display tools
• Java compatable ODBMS
• ASCII to HDF-EOS
• METADATA tools for granule level support
• map/graphical overlay tools
• browser/editor for sgi, linux
• access and analysis
HDF-EOS Workshop II

13. Summary
Most utilities and tools currently exist for only HDF
Development of HDF-EOS capable tools has been
slow!
ESDIS Project sponsorship helps, but can not
be the only player
The future volumes of data in HDF-EOS format will
justify expense of HDF-EOS software for forwardlooking software developers
HDF-EOS Workshop II