Go to Geoinformatics webpage: http://www.geoinformaticsnetwork.org/swgeonet/

Select Data, then select Geoinformatics Online Mapping--Windows-based

The ARC-IMS window appears (Note that if it takes more than a minute to load the map, email ramon.arrowsmith@asu.edu immediately. Sometimes our server goes down):

The ARC-IMS mapping window is used to select visible layers (check squares) and the active layer (click on a circle). Multiple layers can be visible, but only ONE layer can be selected to be active at a time.

Searching, previewing, and downloading ASTER data

First, make visible the ASTER layers of interest by checking the corresponding box. For this tutorial, check the box next to Aster 00. The footprints for the available ASTER scenes will then appear on the map. Also select one ASTER layer (Aster 00) to be the active layer. This layer can be queried using the tool.

Now, you should zoom to your area of interest using the zoom tool . For this tutorial, Flagstaff, AZ, will be the target of interest. To make it easier to find Flagstaff, it is helpful to make visible the Cities and US hwys layers (click on these boxes) before zooming in.

Now, to actually see a table with the ASTER images of interest, select and using the cursor click on the target of interest (Flagstaff). A list of ASTER scenes will appear with a corresponding URL just beneath the map (see above).

Go ahead and click on the second URL listed, http://agassiz.la.asu.edu/idlpages/AST_L1B_003_04122000183014_04182003053007.

Another window will magically appear with detailed information regarding the selected ASTER scene.

ASTER imagery includes visible through thermal infrared data. Most users are going to be interested in the CIR (visible-near infrared) band combination, but also available are a NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index) image, a SWIR (short-wave infrared) image, and a TIR (thermal infrared) image. The CIR and NDVI images will have a ground cell resolution of 15m, the SWIR - 60m, and the TIR - 90m. Check the CIR box and click Submit.

After a few minutes, a new screen appears with a preview image and links to geotif files that can be downloaded.

Click on Download Stretch CIR Data, and a tar-zipped file will be downloaded to your computer. The file will contain a low- and high-resolution image that can be viewed using any image processing software (i.e. Adobe Photoshop) or placed directly into a GIS environment (e.g. ESRI ArcMap). The Stretch CIR Data option provides data that has been visually enhanced to highlight variation in the scene. The CIR JPEG option provides a quick way to preview the image.

High resolution image in ArcMap ready for data fusion and analysis:

Fl agstaff Fly-over - ASTER visible-near infrared draped over NED topography
Warning!! This is a LARGE file (355Mb) so only download if you have a reasonably speedy internet connection.

How to put the images into your ArcMap environment:

1. Download the tar.gz file to a directory on your machine (Z: drive)
2. Uncompress the compressed file (usually you can just double click on it and then you want uncompress it to the same directory. Note that these are *.tar.gz files so you need a program like Winzip or Winrar or many of the other uncompression programs that will recognize this file. We have an explanation of how to do it using ZipGenius here: http://arrowsmith410-598.asu.edu/other/Using_ZipGenius.html.
3. Open ArcMap (either a new file or an existing one (Demo?)). You will see the following at the top of the screen:
   
4. Push the Add data button and the following window will open. Use the Connect to folder button to browse to the location where you saved the (unzipped) data. When you press OK, you will see the folder that contains the DEM file in the 'Add data" window. Double-click it, select the file and add it.
5. Now the image should be in ArcMap!

Last Modified: October 5, 2007