UNIVERSITY OF GHANA

DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY AND RESOURCE

DEVELOPMENT

REMOTE SENSING AND GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION

SYSTEMS LABORATORY (RS/GIS LAB)

REMOTE SENSING MANUAL

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We, the undersigned, take full responsibility for the organization, review, and understanding

of the information presented in this Remote Sensing manual.

We would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to Msc student Addai Kofi Foster for laying

the foundation for this manual through his systematic and simplif ied work, to Mr. Francis

Andorful for his expert advice and guidance throughout the compiling of this manual, and to

all the assistants of the RS/GIS Labs for their contributions in organizing and enhancing the

effectiveness of this manual for students.

We acknowledge that this manual is intended for student use and any updates or changes to

the manual will be made available to future batches as needed.

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 COPYRIGHT
Copyright © [2023] [Remote Sensing & GIS Laboratory, University Of Ghana]. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means,

including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior

written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews

and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. Any unauthorized use of this

material is strictly prohibited and will be subject to legal action.

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 MANUAL STRUCTURE
The Remote Sensing Practical Manual is designed to be used in conjunction with weekly practical lab

sessions. The manual is organized by topic and includes step-by-step procedures with accompanying

visual aids to make it easy to understand and follow. Each week's lesson includes assignments for

students to complete on their own in order to demonstrate their understanding to their instructors. The

manual is structured using the ENVI 5.3 software and datasets will be made available through Google

Classrooms.

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 Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .......................................................................................................... 1
COPYRIGHT ........................................................................................................................... 2
MANUAL STRUCTURE........................................................................................................... 3
WEEK ONE............................................................................................................................. 6
INTRODUCTION TO REMOTE SENSING ............................................................................... 6
LESSON ONE: REGISTRATION ON USGS SITE ....................................................................................................6
LESSON TWO: DOWNLOADING LANDSAT IMAGERY USING EARTH EXPLORER ..................................8
WEEK ONE ............................................................................................................................................................. 13
ASSIGNMENT ONE............................................................................................................................................... 13
WEEK TWO .......................................................................................................................... 14
EXPLORING THE ENVI SOFTWARE .................................................................................... 14
LESSON ONE THE ENVI INTERFACE.................................................................................................................. 14
LESSON TWO: UNPACKING SATELLITE IMAGES........................................................................................... 15
LESSON THREE: OPENING SATELLITE IMAGERY OR DATA WITH ENVI SOFTWARE ...................... 19
LESSON FOUR: EXPLORING BASIC TOOLS: Gapfill, Radiometric Calibration, and Layer Sta cking.22
WEEK TWO............................................................................................................................................................ 33
ASSIGNMENT TWO ............................................................................................................................................. 33
WEEK THREE ...................................................................................................................... 34
MOSAICKING AND SUBSETTING ........................................................................................ 34
LESSON ONE: MOSAICKING .................................................................................................................................. 34
LESSON TWO: SUBSETTING ................................................................................................................................. 37
WEEK THREE........................................................................................................................................................ 39
ASSIGNMENT THREE ......................................................................................................................................... 39
WEEK FOUR ........................................................................................................................ 40
ATMOSPHERIC CORRECTION MODULES .......................................................................... 40
LESSON ONE: QUAC................................................................................................................................................. 40
LESSON TWO: FLAASH ........................................................................................................................................... 43

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 WEEK FOUR........................................................................................................................................................... 52
ASSIGNMENT FOUR ............................................................................................................................................ 52
WEEK FIVE .......................................................................................................................... 53
IMAGE CLASSIFICAT ION ..................................................................................................... 53
LESSON ONE: UNSUPERVISED CLASSIFICATION .......................................................................................... 53
LESSON TWO: POST CLASSIFICATION .............................................................................................................. 58
LESSON THREE: SUPERVISED CLASSIFICATION ........................................................................................... 64
WEEK FIVE............................................................................................................................................................. 66
ASSIGNMENT FIVE.............................................................................................................................................. 66
WEEK SIX............................................................................................................................. 67
CHANGE DETECTION.......................................................................................................... 67
LESSON ONE: CHANGE DETECTION DIFFERENCE MAP ............................................................................. 67
LESSON TWO: CHANGE DETECTION STATISTICS......................................................................................... 72
WEEK SIX................................................................................................................................................................ 78
ASSIGNMENT SIX................................................................................................................................................. 78
WEEK SEVEN ...................................................................................................................... 79
VEGETATION ANALYSIS ..................................................................................................... 79
LESSON ONE: NORMALIZED DIFFERENCE VEGETATION INDEX (NDVI) ............................................. 79
LESSON TWO: BAND MATH.................................................................................................................................. 82
WEEK SEVEN......................................................................................................................................................... 86
ASSIGNMENT SEVEN .......................................................................................................................................... 86
REFESRENCES ................................................................................................................... 87

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 WEEK ONE

INTRODUCTION TO REMOTE SENSING

LESSON ONE: REGISTRATION ON USGS SITE

The United States Geological surveys (USGS) servers host Geospatial information recording from ground
stations stored in a cloud available for download and use by professionals and academic bodies . Before
getting a Landsat image, one must register on the USGS site. To achieve this, the following steps must be
followed.
1. Go to www.google.com using any browser such as Chrome, Brave, Opera, and Firefox. Type Earth
Explore and hit the Enter key.
2. Click on the first search displayed by google, Earth Explorer that appears in any of the browsers used.
3. Click on the Login button on the website to register for an account.

4. Click on the Create New Account button to continue to the registration page.

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The registration is in four steps and is in this order: User Registration, Contact Demographic, Contact
Information, and Complete Registration

USER REGISTRATION
In this session, one is expected to enter his Username and Password. The username must be 4 to 30
characters long containing alphanumeric characters. The password on the other hand must be 12 to 24
characters, with at least one alpha and one numeric key.

CONTACT DEMOGRAPHIC
This session captures information about your work. You will be required to answer the following questions.
1. In what sector do you work?
2. Are you working on behalf of the U.S. Federal Agency?
3. Which of the following characterizes you as a user of remotely sensed data from USGS?
4. Does your work use remotely sensed data from USGS?
5. And finally, the primary and secondary applications for which you have used remotely sensed data
from USGS in the past year.

NB: Answers to these questions are displayed in a drop or check box, and you must check or click on them
to select as many as applies to you.

CONTACT INFORMATION
This session captures all your contact details. You may be required to provide the following information
about yourself; your first and last names, company or organizations name, address, country, city, email,
and others.

NS: All sessions with the star sign [*] are required and must be filled.

COMPLETE REGISTRATION
Complete Registration by checking whether all information is correct and Clicking Submit the button to
Send. USGS will send an email confirmation in your email of your registration. Activate it to have access
to remotely sense (Landsat) data from the website.

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LESSON TWO: DOWNLOADING LANDSAT IMAGERY USING EARTH
EXPLORER
To download data from the USGS website, earth explorer, you are required Login using the username and
password and then query the system with the specifics of the data set to be downloaded. To download an
image, these four steps must be satisfied: Search Criteria, Data Sets, Addition Criteria, and Results.

SEARCH CRITERIA
1. Selecting a Geocoding Method: Click on the drop button menu to select Feature GNIS or Path and
Row number of the location of the Landsat Image. Row number begins at the North Pole and increases as
you go to the South. On the other hand, the Path number begins at the prime meridian and increases as you
go West.
2. Enter a name of the location or a specific geographic area in the Feature Name box and click on the show
to load the results
3. You can zoom in and out of the location using the Use Map
4. Select the date range of Landsat Image and click on the Data Sets

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DATA SETS
Click on the Data Sets to select which platform or Sensor you are willing to take your data from. Landsat
satellite has a 16-day orbital path that allows it to record information about the surface of the earth called
the revisited time.
1. Expand Landsat Collection 1
2. Select Landsat Collection 1 Level-1
3. Check off the Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS C1 Level-1 imagery datasets you are interested in.
4. Click on the Results when you finished selecting Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS C1 Level-1

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ADDITIONAL CRITERIA
These are optional based on the Satellite used to access the Remotely sensed data.
1. Land Cloud cover: Select less than 10%.
2. Scene Cloud cover: Select less than 10%.

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RESULTS
1. Click on the footprint to see the location covered.
2. Click on the photo icon to show the map's browse overlay and the location's image.
3. Click on the zoom icon to compare Browse images.

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4. This shows the metadata of the Landsat image. See below in Red.

6. Select the Download options to download the Level-1 GeoTIFF Data Product.

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 WEEK ONE

ASSIGNMENT ONE
Showing the steps perform a download of two satellite images from the USGS site with path 194 and row
056. The images downloaded should be captured from 2010 to 2015 and 2020 to 2022.

Submit this on Sakai

1. Open the location of the downloaded file.
2. Right click on any empty space and move to “view” then select large icons.
3. Use print Screen or Snipping tool to take the snapshot.
4. With the name of the file showing, breakdown the naming system and explain what they stand for.

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 WEEK TWO

EXPLORING THE ENVI SOFTWARE

LESSON ONE THE ENVI INTERFACE

To launch your ENVI software, search for ENVI in UPPER-CASE in the start menu. Select the ENVI 5.3
(6.4) Bit. To avoid always searching for the ENVI in the search menu, pin it to the taskbar for easy access.
Final double-click to launch it.

1. Toolbar
2. Menu Bar: When you start ENVI, the ENVI main menu appears as a menu bar. Clicking with the left
mouse button on any of the ENVI main menu topics brings up a list of options, which may, in turn, c ontain
submenus with further options.
3. Layer Manager: Manages the layers of the ENVI images (images to be worked on). Items on the layer
view can be turned off and on, and you can right-click to turn other menus which are specific instructions
to apply on the layers. This is where all files and layers will be displayed showing how to manage them.
The layer has a submenu when Right Click shown below

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4. Main Display Window: This interface visualizes the images to be worked on. All data manipulation
takes place from the visual point of view.
5. Toolbox: The toolbox supplies tools needed to process the data, which are grouped into categories.
Moreover, each of these tools has sub-tools.

6. Process Manager: shows when a process is running

7. Status Bar: this shows the status of the image you are working on.

LESSON TWO: UNPACKING SATELLITE IMAGES

Landsat Images are in “tif.gz” format or an “archived file” and you will need to unzip them using 7zip or
“WinRAR” into the location where it is downloaded or the path where the satellite images are found in the
location. The path can serve as a location to save changes made to the Landsat images to keep them
organized.

Note: Install 7zip or WinRAR to extract downloaded images from the UGSC site.
To unzip the satellite images;

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1. Right-click on the Archive file
2. Select Extract Here

3. The unzipped images will appear in the folder.

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The Extracted Files displayed on the window, contains a set of Landsat images and text files, thus the
images in the folder above is a Landsat 8 image, with a naming conversion of LC08, i.e., the L-Landsat,
C- Sensor type, 08-means a Landsat 8 image. Each electromagnetic spectrum is composed of
one image. The sensor records within the blue spectrum bands with colors as follows:

I. Band 1 = Blue Spectrum

II. Band 2= Green Spectrum
III. Band 3=Red spectrum
IV. Band 4 = Near infrared Spectrum
V. B5 = Infrared Spectrum
VI. B6_V1_CID = Thermal Spectrum Temperature.

Another important thing to notice is the text files in the folder, the one with the extension of MTL is the
metadata which has information about Satellite, Sensor, Data, and the Conditions and Circumstances that
existed about how the image data was captured.

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The text files are open with Text files as shown below:

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At times Ground Control points (GCP) text files are also included in the folder, which are control points
that corrected the data geometrically, which are sets of coordinates that are used geometrically corrected to
align the data.

LESSON THREE: OPENING SATELLITE IMAGERY OR DATA WITH

ENVI SOFTWARE

METHOD ONE
1. With the mouse pointer, select File and select Open in the pop-up dialog that appears.
2. Select the Extracted Image.
3. Click on Open to load the images in the Layers menu.

4. The ENVI will load the image shown below

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5. The Loaded Image appears in the Layers menu and will be loaded into your display.

1. Activate the Overview in the Layer Manager by selecting the checkbox.

2. The image will be displayed in the Main Display Window.

METHOD TWO
Another method to open the Satellite imagery or data is to use the steps below:
1. Click “Open as” in the File menu
2. Select the Optical Sensors

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3. Select Landsat
4. Select GeoTIFF with Metadata
5. Navigate to where Metadata with MTL extension is located and select it
6. Click on Open, and the metadata unpacked all the files that were unzipped earlier and displays it in Main
Display Window.

1. The scene appears on the Main Display window with the data loaded with various bands showing 1. Red,
Green, and Blue. These images are stacked.
2. However, the data manager contains all the bands. The data manager is used to display the different
bands in the satellite image.
3. Click on the clipboard tool on the toolbar to open the Data manager. The Data Manager is the interface
from which you can control all the data you have loaded in ENVI. You can use the Data Manager to display
your data and to view information about the file (called Metadata) such as sensor type, wavelength range,
and total file size. You can load any band combinations that your data will support, or you can load a
grayscale representation of your data. The Data Manager keeps track of all data opened in ENVI. Removing
a file from the Layer Manager removes the data from the display but not from the Data Manager.

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4. The Data Manager shows the various bands in the Landsat 8 Image shown in red.

LESSON FOUR: EXPLORING BASIC TOOLS: Gapfill, Radiometric

Calibration, and Layer Stacking.

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THE BASIC TOOLS IN ENVI
This shown in red below is some of the basic tools on the ENVI toolbar.

From left to right on the toolbar is as follows:

1. Open: open the image

2. Data Manager: This is used to manage the layers on Satellite imagery such as Landsat 8 layers
3. Chip to file:
4. Cursor Value: This gives actual information about each pixel on the main display window as well as
giving the geographic coordinate of that pixel selected.
5. Select tool: The default tool that is used to navigate part of the Landsat image on the main display
window.
6. Pan: This is used to drag the Landsat image.
7. Fly: Move around the scene.
8. Rotate view: Rotates the scene to any angle.
9. Zoom: zoom the scene under the processing.
10. Fixed Zoom in: zoom in on the scene.
11. Fixed zoom Out: zoom out the scene under the main display window.
12. Zoom to full Extent: This shows the whole satellite imagery in the main display window.
13. Scale: Select this if you want to view a scale of the satellite imagery.
14. Special Profile: This gives a special signature of a particular pixel of the satellite which is shown in the
form of a graph.
15. Arbitrary Profile: This gives the data values when comparing features on the satellite image, for
example, data values from land to water. This is shown in a graph.
16. Scatterplot tool: This allows you to plot a scatter plot of different bands, for example plotting the green
band versus the red band.
17. Text annotations: used to add text to the satellite image.
18. Region of Interest: This allows you to select an area of interest on the scene, by drawing polygons
around it.
19. Feature Counting Tool: This allows you to count on features on the scene and label them.

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20. Go To: Allows you to enter coordinates on the scene, so that you directly locate that area on the satellite
imagery.

From Left to Right

1. Brightness: This brightness out the image.

2. Contrast: This changes the contrast of the image.
3. Histogram Stretch button: This helps to brighten the image based on the individual stretches. Below
are the stretches
a. Linear
b. Linear 1%
c. Linear 2%
d. Linear 5%
e. Equalization
f. Gaussian
g. Square Root
h. Logarithmic
i. Optimized Linear
j. Custom

4. Sharpen: This sharpens the features of the image.

5. Mensuration tool: This allows you to measure the distance between objects in Landsat Image and gives
the geographic coordinates of the distance measured.
6. Portal: Select this to see the layer underneath the Landsat Image of two images and see how it has
changed over time.
7. View Blend: This displays two Landsat images back and forth of two different images of the same area
8. View Flicker: This flicker back between the two layers of the Landsat or satellite image.
9. View Swipe: This swipe across the screen shows the difference between the two layers.

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Two images of Landsat images can be viewed together by using the view button by selecting Two Vertical
Views.
1. One is showing one Landsat Image on the left
2. Another Landsat image on the right
3. Both Images can be managed with the Data Manager

GAP FILLING
Gap fill is performed when there are scan lines on the Landsat Images. The steps in Gap fill are as follows

1. Select the Gapfill from the Extension folder from the toolbox.
2. On the dialog box, click on ‘single file gap fill (triangulation)’ and choose an output location to save the
corrected scan lines.
3. Navigate to the location and give the file name to save it.
4. Click on the Open marked in red.

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5. Click on OK
6. On the dialog box after clicking on OK. Select the Landsat image with multispectral Extension.
7. Click OK to start the process of GAP Filling.

RADIOMETRIC CALIBRATION
Radiometric Calibration is done to calibrate image data to radiance, reflectance, or brightness temperatures.

ENVI automatically calibrates the following data types as follows:

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  Göktürk-2: Radiance

 MODIS/ASTER Simulator (MASTER): Radiance

 RASAT: Radiance

 SkySat-1 and -2: Radiance

 ASTER Level-1B: ENVI converts byte-scaled radiance data into floating-point radiance units. For
Level-1A data, it performs a complete calibration to radiance. The units of the output ASTER
radiance are W/m2 /μm/sr.

 MODIS Level-1B through 4 (HDF-EOS): ENVI converts the 16-bit data to radiance floating-point
data in units of W/m2 /μm/sr. It also automatically computes emissivity and reflectance data without
units.

The steps are as follows

1. Double click Radiometric calibration under the Radiometric Correction
2. Select the Landsat image
3. click OK

4. Click on the “…” to save the output

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5. Navigate to the location where to save it and name it.

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6. Click on Apply FLAASH Settings and click on display result and click OK

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 6. The process manager shows the processing of the image.

LAYER STACKING
Layer Stacking is used to build a new multi-band file from georeferenced images of various pixel sizes,
extents, and projections. The input bands will be resampled and re-projected to a common user-selected
output projection and pixel size. The output file will have a geographic extent that either encompasses all
the input file extents or encompasses only the data extent where all the files overlap.
The steps are as follows

1. From the Toolbox select Raster Manager and click on Layer Stacking
2. On the dialog box of Layer Stacking Parameters select UTM as an Output Map Projection
3. Select the Import File
4. Select an input file of the Landsat image from the Layer Stacking Input File.
5. Click OK
6. Select the Output Filename by selecting Choose.

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7. Navigate to a location and save the File Name
8. Click Open

Select the Band choice of the various wavelength on the Data Manager,

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1. Selecting band 7 for red,
2. Selecting band 5 for green,
3. Selecting band 3 for blue,
4. Click on Load Data to display the Output on the Main Display Window

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 WEEK TWO

ASSIGNMENT TWO

Using the image downloaded from week 1, Perform a layer stack of band that are good for showing the
following
 vegetation
 built-up, open areas
 water

Submit this to Sakai

Send a snapshot of each of your results.
Explain why those bands you combine are good to show the feature you used for.

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 WEEK THREE

MOSAICKING AND SUBSETTING

LESSON ONE: MOSAICKING

Mosaicking is done when two Landsat Images overlap or are adjacent to each other.
The steps are as follows

1 & 2. Select the two Landsat Images which overlap the Main Display Window, by checking 1 and 2 in the
Layer Manager.
3. Import the 216 shape File of Ghana and check it to be added Main Display Window.
4. The two overlapping Satellite images and Shapefile are shown below in the Main Display Window.

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1. From the Toolbox, Select Mosaicking and from the dropdown menu select Seamless mosaic
2. From the Seamless Mosaic window click on the plus sign to add two images that will be mosaicked.
3. Select the two images as shown in 3 and 4
4. Click OK

1. Select the two images

2. Click on Finish in red to process the mosaicked images.

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The Output Mosaicked image will display on the Main Display Window

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LESSON TWO: SUBSETTING
Subsetting is done to extract or cut a portion (Region of Interest) of an image. Subset Data via ROIs is
used to subset your data into a rectangle that contains the selected ROIs. The rectangle is the smallest
rectangle that will fit the ROI. You can mask the pixels in the rectangle that do not fall within the ROI.

To subset a portion of a satellite image, i.e., JOMORO DISTRICT, we follow these steps
1. Select the Toolbox and Select Regions of Interest Folder, select and double click on Subset Data from
ROI
2. Select the Ghana district shapefile earlier imported and set the DISTRICT = JOMORO to subset it from
the shapefile
3. Click OK.

4. The Output subset image from the Ghana Shape File is displayed on the Main Display Window.

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 WEEK THREE

ASSIGNMENT THREE

With the images downloaded from week one, perform the process of mosaicking and Subset Central
Region as your Region of Interest (ROI) from the image.
Submit this to Sakai
1. A snapshot of the process and final results
2. State the criteria you used for the sub setting. Whether district code, name, etc

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 WEEK FOUR

ATMOSPHERIC CORRECTION MODULES

Removing the influence of the atmosphere is a critical pre-processing step in analyzing images of surface
reflectance. Properties such as the amount of water vapor, distribution of aerosols, and scene visibility must
be known. Because direct measurements of these atmospheric properties are rarely available, they mus t be
inferred from the image pixels. Hyperspectral images provide enough spectral information within a pixel
to independently measure atmospheric water vapor absorption bands. Atmospheric properties are then used
to constrain highly accurate models of atmospheric radiation transfer to produce an estimate of the true
surface reflectance.

The Atmospheric Correction Module provides two atmospheric correction modeling tools for retrieving
spectral reflectance from multispectral and hyperspectral radiance images:

1) Quick Atmospheric Correction (QUAC).

2) Fast Line-of-sight Atmospheric Analysis of Spectral Hypercubes (FLAASH).

QUAC and FLAASH were developed by Spectral Sciences, Inc., under sponsorship from the U.S. Air Force
Research Laboratory. Spectral Sciences has developed several modern atmospheric radiation transfer
models and has worked extensively on MODTRAN® since the model’s inception in 1989.

LESSON ONE: QUAC

QUAC is an atmospheric correction method for multispectral and hyperspectral imagery that works with
the visible and near-infrared through shortwave infrared (VNIR-SWIR) wavelength range. QUAC works
best with scenes that have diverse materials such as water, soil, vegetation, and man-made structures.
QUAC should not be used with scenes over oceans or large water bodies.

1. Select the Landsat Image to be worked on and display it in the Main display window
2. Select the Radiometric Correction from the Toolbox.

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3. Under the Radiometric Correction tools select the Atmospheric Correction Module,
4. Select the Quick Atmospheric Correction (QUAC.)
5. Select the Landsat Image with Multispectral attached to it.
6. Click OK

The dialog box QUAC opens with the Input Raster and Sensor Type Selected

1. Click on the three … on the Output Raster.

2. Navigate to the location and give a file name
3. Save the file

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4. Click OK
5. Shows ENVI QUAC Task performing the tasks.

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1. The save after the QUAC task can be seen in the Layer Manager
2. Output Landsat Image after QUAC task is displayed in the Main Display Window.

LESSON TWO: FLAASH

FLAASH is a first-principles atmospheric correction tool that corrects wavelengths in the visible through
near-infrared and shortwave infrared regions, up to 3 µm. FLAASH works with most hyperspectral and
multispectral sensors. Water vapor and aerosol retrieval are only possible when the image has bands in the
right wavelength positions. This is done on the atmospheric radiance values that were created on
Radiometric Calibration in week 2.
These are the steps for performing FLAASH
1. Select the save Radiance Image in “week 2”
2. Radiance.dat display in the Main Display Window

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3. From the Toolbox, select Radiometric Correction > Atmospheric Correction Module > FLAASH
Atmospheric Correction. The FLAASH Atmospheric Correction Module Input Parameters dialog appears.

1. Click on the Input Radiance Image

2. Select the Input Image Radiance image with the “dat” extension from step 7
3. Click OK
4. A second dialog box appears. Select use single scale factor for all the bands and leave the single scale
factor as one which is the default.
5. click OK.

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1. Select the Output Reflectance file, to serve as the location to save it.
2. Navigate to the location where to save it, and give it a name.
3. click Open

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1. Select the Output directory for FLAASH files and save them to the same location where you save the
file
2. Select the FLAASH_OUTPUT FILES file as in the Output reflectance folder in step 7 for ENVI to save
the settings during the correction process.
3. Click OK

1. Root name for FLAASH is using _FLAASH this is to ensure that the ENVI file was
created from FLAASH
2. Select the Sensor parameters,
3-4. Select the Sensor Type Multispectral and it is Landsat 8 OLI, FLAASH can work with different satellite
images.

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1. Make sure you have selected the sensor Landsat-8 OLI
2. Select the Flight date of the Landsat image
3. Since we selected Landsat 8 it fills in the sensor altitude of 705 km
4. Ground elevation is set to 0.02

The longitude and latitude of the Landsat image are already filled since it’s geo-referenced.
Flight time will be set automatically, or you can check that from the Metadata for the correct
scene time and enter the actual date.

5. Select the pixel size of 30 meters which is the resolution of the Landsat Image
6. For the atmospheric model choose Tropical since we are in the tropical zone
7. Select the Aerosol model as Rural
8. Initial Visibility to 40km
9. Click on Apply and save the settings

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A dialog box of Output FLAASH Parameters Template opens
1. Select Choose
2. Navigate to where to save the file called FLAASH Settings
3. Click on Open

4. Click on OK and Apply

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5. The FLAASH Atmospheric Correction dialog shows the process. You must wait for like 30 minutes for
the process to finish. This depends on how fast the computer is.

And output windows open which looks like everything was performed correctly and exit it.

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1. Open the saved FLAASH output. And select the band combinations to display the Landsat image in the
main display window.

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 WEEK FOUR

ASSIGNMENT FOUR

Perform the atmospheric correction module of FLAASH using the downloaded image (2020- 2022).
Save and take a snapshot of the FLAASH configuration used.
Submit this to Sakai
1. Snapshot of the FLAASH configuration file
2. Final FLAASH results compared with raw image.

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 WEEK FIVE

IMAGE CLASSIFICATION

Image classification is a process of extracting information classes from a multiband raster image. It involves
the grouping of pixels of the same spectral reflection into single classes. This process of choosing pixels is
called selecting training sites. The classification Workflow tool in ENVI 5.3 is used to perform this task
and it consists of two types which are as follows:
 Unsupervised Classification
 Supervised Classification

LESSON ONE: UNSUPERVISED CLASSIFICATION

This is where the outcomes are based on the software analysis of an image without the analyst providing
sample classes. The computer uses its techniques to determine which pixels are related and groups them
into classes. However, the user must know the area being classified when the grouping of pixels with
common characteristics produced by the computer must be related to actual features on the grounds. Below
are the steps for performing unsupervised classification.

1. Select the Classification Folder to expand it and select classification workflow.

2. Select Browse to select the subset JOMORO DISTRICT as Raster File
3. Select JOMORO File and click OK

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4. Click on Next

5. Select No Training Data and click Next.

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6. Enter 10 which defines the number of classes – and Click Next to process. The number of classes
determines the amount the output of the class after the unsupervised classification

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Click on Next to start the process of running the Unsupervised Classification as shown in Red.

7. Check “Enable Smoothing” and “Enable Aggregation” to refine the Results. Click Next to start the
Running Cleanup Process.

This is to maintain the details produced if it is desired or smoothen it to hide certain details.

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9. Export to save the Results window, there are two options, exporting as Classification Image as ENVI
output format or Export as Classification Vectors file and clicking finish to save the images

Classification Output shown in Main Display windows

1. In the Layer Manager shows the number of Classes after the unsupervised classification.
2. Unsupervised Classified image is shown in the Main Display window.

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LESSON TWO: POST CLASSIFICATION
After unsupervised classification, pixels with common characteristics produced by the computer must be
grouped to relate to actual features on the grounds. It involves editing the classes and class names of the
colors shown above. Below are the steps

1. Select the Classified Image JOMORO_Class dat

2. From the Toolbox select Raster Management under the subfolder and select Edit ENVI Header.

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3. Select the unsupervised Image and click OK

4. From the Raster Metadata dialog box, check the Class Names and Class Colors in Red

5. In the Class Color box, select a class and double-click on the color to select a color. Select the Color
Class with a name in the Name Class box to edit; enter a right land cover name and click the enter key to
save changes. Repeat the process to edit Class Names to the right Land cover as shown in red.

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The Listed classes shows in the Layer Manager below:

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7. To reduce the Classes, Post classification is done to merge some of the classes into one. As well as
removing empty classes from the classification. This is done by using the subfolder Combined class tools
from the Classification Tool

1. From the Toolbox Select the Classification folder and subfolder Post classification and select
Combine Classes.
2. Select the joint class file JOMORO with the “dat” extension.
3. Click OK

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4. Assign the Input Class and Out Class and select Add Combination

5. Click on Yes to select “Remove Empty Classes”. Select the Output Result either by selecting File or
Memory and click OK

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6. The Final output of the post-classification is shown in the Layer Manager

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LESSON THREE: SUPERVISED CLASSIFICATION
Supervised Classification is a human-guided form of classification whereby the analyst does his or her
classification by assigning class names and class colors to show the point of interest example; Green
signifies Vegetation, Blue represents Water and Brown is used to represent soil.

Below are the steps.

1. From the classification toolbox select Classification Workflow.

2. Choose your input file and click next.

3. Choose use training data as a classification type and click next for the supervised classified dialog box
to appear

4. Pick training points of each land cover type as shown above and click next for the process to run.

5. Check “Enable Smoothing” and “Enable Aggregation” to refine the Results. Click Next to start the
Running Cleanup Process.

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9. Export to save the Results window, there are two options, exporting as Classification Image as ENVI
output format or Export as Classification Vectors file and clicking finish to save the images

The Classification Output will show in the Main Display windows of ENVI.

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 WEEK FIVE

ASSIGNMENT FIVE

Perform a supervised classification for the satellite images downloaded from week one, showing the
following train sites:
i. Vegetation
ii. Built-up
iii. Water bodies
iv. Bare lands

Submit This to Sakai

Snapshot of the training samples page and the final results

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 WEEK SIX

CHANGE DETECTION

Change Detection Analysis encompasses a broad range of methods used to identify, describe, and quantify
differences between images of the same scene at different times or under different conditions. You can use
many of ENVI's tools (such as Band Math or Principal Components Analysis) independently, or in
combination, as part of a change detection analysis. However, the Change Detection Toolbox menu offers
a straightforward approach to measuring changes between images representing an initial state and a final
state.

1. Use Change Detection Statistics for classification images and

2. Use Change Detection Difference Map for grayscale (single-band) images.

LESSON ONE: CHANGE DETECTION DIFFERENCE MAP

Change Detection Difference Map is used to produce an ENVI classification image characterizing the
differences between any pair of the initial state and final state images. The input images may be single-
band images of any data type. The difference is computed by subtracting the initial state image from the
final state image (that is, the final - initial), and the classes are defined by change thresholds. A positive
change identifies pixels that became brighter (final state brightness was greater than the initial state
brightness), while a negative change identifies pixels that became dimmer (final state brightness was less
than initial state brightness).

As an optional pre-processing step, you can normalize the input images to a data range between zero and
one or standardize them to a zero mean and unit variance. The input images must be coregistered or
georeferenced. For the most accurate results, carefully coregister the images before processing. If the input
images are not coregistered, the Change Detection Difference Map tool uses the available map information

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to automatically coregister the images, using the initial state image as the base if re-projection or resampling
is required.

Below are the steps for Change Detection using the Change Detection Difference Map tool

1. Select Change Detection > Change Detection Difference Map from the Toolbox. Select the ‘Initial State’
Image dialog that appears.

NB: The input images must be georeferenced or coregistered. If the images are not coregistered, then the
available map information will be used to automatically coregister the area common to both.

2. Select a single-band image representing the initial state, perform optional spatial subsetting, and click Ok.
Select the ‘Final State’ Image dialog that appears.

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3. Select a single-band image representing the final state, perform optional spatial subsetting, and click Ok.
The Compute Difference Map Input Parameters dialog appears.

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4. Enter the number of classes to use. Each class is defined by a difference threshold that represents a
varying amount of change between the two images. The minimum number of classes is two. The default
classification thresholds are evenly spaced between (-1) and (+1) for simple differences, and (-100%) and
(+100%) for percent differences. The default class definitions attempt to produce symmetric classes, with
an equal number of positive and negative change classes surrounding a No Change category.

5. To modify or view the classification thresholds, define names for the classes, or import classification
thresholds from a previous result, click Define Class Thresholds. (If using default thresholds, this step is
unnecessary.) The Define Class Simple Difference Thresholds dialog appears. Each class is defined by one
line in the dialog.

While you are encouraged to customize the criteria to use to define the change thresholds, It is
recommended that the classes retain their default symmetrical property, with an equal number of positive
and negative classes surrounding a No Change class. Retaining the default position (order) and type
(negative or positive) of classes will make the results easier to interpret using the classification color
assignments.

6. Set the Change Type:

1. Simple Difference: Subtracts the initial state image from the final state image.
2. Percent Difference: The simple difference divided by the initial state value.

7. Select one of the following optional Data Pre-Processing options:

1. Normalization: Subtracts the image minimum and divides by the image data range: Normalization
= (DN - min) / (max-min).

2. Standardization: Subtracts the image mean and divides by the standard deviation: Standardization
= (DN - mean) / stdev.

8. Select output to File or Memory.

9. If the input images require warping or resampling to produce a coregistered pair, then an extra section
appears which allows saving the auto-coregistered images to File or Memory.

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10. Click OK. The resulting Difference Map classification image is color-coded to indicate the magnitude
of the change between the two images. Positive changes display in shades of red, grading from gray for no
change to bright red for the largest positive change. Negative changes display in shades of blue, grading
from gray for no change to bright blue for the largest negative change.

If the number of positive and negative change classes or the order in which the classes are defined has
changed from the default settings, the interpretation of the color scheme may not match that described here.

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LESSON TWO: CHANGE DETECTION STATISTICS
Change Detection Statistics is used to compile a detailed tabulation of changes between two classification
images. The changes detected using this routine differ significantly from the simple difference between the
two images. While the statistics report does include a class-for-class image difference, the analysis focuses
primarily on the initial state classification changes; that is, for each initial state class, the analysis identifies
the classes into which those pixels changed in the final state image. ENVI can report changes as pixel
counts, percentages, and areas. In addition, you can produce a special type of mask image (classification
masks) that provide a spatial context for the tabular report. The class masks are ENVI classification images
with class colors matching the final state image, making it easy to identify where changes occurred and the
class into which the pixels changed.

The input images must be coregistered or georeferenced. For the most accurate results, carefully coregister
the images before processing. If the input images are not coregistered, ENVI uses the available map
information to automatically coregister the images, using the initial state image as the base if re-projection
or resampling is required.

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Below are the steps for Change Detection using the Change Detection Statistics tool

1. From the Toolbox, select Change Detection > Change Detection Statistics for the Select the ‘Initial State’
Image dialog appears.

2. Select a classification image representing the initial state and perform optional spatial subsetting, then
click Ok for the Select the ‘Final State’ Image dialog appears.

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3. Select a classification image representing the final state and perform optional spatial subsetting, then
click Ok for the Define Equivalent Classes dialog appears.

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4. Match the classes from the Initial and final state images by selecting the matching names in the two lists
and clicking Add Pair.

NB: Add only the classes you wish to include in the change detection analysis (you do not have to pair all
classes). The class combinations are shown in a list at the bottom of the dialog. If the classes in each image
have the same names, they are automatically paired.

5. Click Ok. The Change Detection Statistics Output dialog appears.

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6. Select the Report Type. You may choose any combination of Pixels, Percent, and Area.

7. Click the Output Classification Mask Images? toggle button to specify whether or not to create class
masks.

8. If the Output Classification Mask Images? toggle button is Yes, select output to File or Memory.

9. Click Ok. If an Area Report was requested but the initial state image does not have pixel sizes defined,
the Define Pixel Sizes for Area Statistics dialog displays.

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10. Enter the pixel sizes.

11. Click Ok for ENVI to add the resulting output to the Layer Manager and opens the statistics in the
Change Detection Statistics window.

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 WEEK SIX

ASSIGNMENT SIX

Perform a change detection showing the change detection statistics table for the 2 periods downloaded.

Submit this to Sakai

1. The classified images of each image
2. Change detection Statistics
3. Explain the change that has occurred in your area.

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 WEEK SEVEN

VEGETATION ANALYSIS

LESSON ONE: NORMALIZED DIFFERENCE VEGETATION INDEX

(NDVI)
This index is a measure of healthy, green vegetation. The combination of its normalized difference
formulation and use of the highest absorption and reflectance regions of chlorophyll makes it robust over a
wide range of conditions. It can, however, saturate in dense vegetation conditions when LAI becomes high.

Below are the steps for performing NDVI,

1. Load the MTL file of your satellite image and the Ghana district shape file into your layer manager.

2. Perform Radiometric Calibration, Quick Atmospheric Correction (QUAC), and Subset your ROI.

3. From the Toolbox, select Spectral > Vegetation > NDVI. The NDVI dialog appears.

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4. Select an Input Raster, perform optional spatial and spectral subsetting, and click on Ok.

The NDVI Calculation Parameters dialog box will appear.

5. To write the output to disk, select the File radio button and specify a filename and location. To produce
output in memory only, select the Virtual radio button.

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6. Select choose and select the location to save your file Enter the Output filename and click on Ok for
the process to run.

7. The results of the process will be displayed in the Display Window. You may change the color of your
processed image by right-clicking on your NDVI file in the Layer Manager for the change color table to
appear.

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LESSON TWO: BAND MATH
Band Math is a flexible image processing tool with many capabilities not available in any other image
processing system. You can use the Band Math dialog to define bands or files used as input, to call a user
Band Math function, and to write the result to a file or memory. The Band Math function accesses data
spatially by mapping variables to bands or files. Spatial data that are too large to read entirely into memory
are automatically accessed using data tiling.

The following figure depicts Band Math processing that adds three bands. Each band in the expression is
mapped to an input image band, summed, and output as the resulting image data. You can map one or more
of the expression’s variables to a file instead of mapping each variable to a single band. The resulting output
is a new image file. For example, in the expression b1 + b2 + b3, if b1 is mapped to a file and b2 and b3
are mapped to a single band, then the resulting image file contains the bands of the b1 file summed with b2
and b3.

Below are the steps

1. From the Toolbox, select Band Algebra > Band Math. The Band Math dialog appears.

2. Enter a mathematical operation or IDL function (including variable names) in the Enter an
expression field and click Ok.

The function for calculation NVDI is float((b5-b4)/(b5+b4))

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Optionally use the following functionality:
i. Previous Band Math Expressions: This list shows previously applied
mathematical expressions. To apply an expression to a new set of bands, select
it from the list and enter it in the Enter an expression field. Click OK.

ii. Save: Save mathematical expressions to a file. The Save Expressions to a File
dialog appears. Enter an output filename with a. enp extension. Click OK. You
can save expressions to a file without having to first run them through
the Band Math tool.

iii. Clear: Clear all expressions from the Previous Band Math Expressions list.

iv. Delete: Delete a single expression from the Previous Band Math Expressions
list.

v. Add to List: To add an expression to the Previous Band Math Expressions list,
enter it in the Enter an expression field and click Add to List.

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3. Click OK. The Variables to Bands Pairings dialog appears. Use this dialog to assign bands to variable
names that you entered in the Enter an expression field.

In the Variables used in the expression field, select the variable B1 - [undefined]. Select the band that
you want to represent B1, from the Available Bands List. When the first band is selected, only those bands
with the same spatial dimensions are shown in the band list. Continue to assign a value to B2, B3, and so
forth in the same manner.

4. Select output to File or Memory, perform optional spatial subsetting, and Enter an Output Filename.

5. Click OK. The Band Math image is added to the display and the Layer Manager.

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 HOW TO INTERPRAT NDVI AND BAND MATH RESULTS

The calculations of NDVI for a given pixel always result in a number that ranges from minus one
(-1) to plus one (+1).

Values between -1 and 0 indicate dead plants, or inorganic objects such as stones, roads, and
houses. And values for live plants range between 0 to 1, with 1 being the healthiest and 0 being the
least healthy. A single value can be determined for every pixel in an image—ranging from an
individual leaf to a 500-acre wheat field.

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 WEEK SEVEN

ASSIGNMENT SEVEN

Perform NDVI for Central Region between the 2 years.

Present both years and tell the range of vegetation change between the periods.

Submit this to Sakai

1. Snapshot of NDVI of the both years
2. Explain the change in vegetation pattern you see in the image.

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 REFESRENCES
1. Introduction to ENVI® Analytics (2016) Exelis Visual Information Solutions Inc., a subsidiary of Harris
Corporation. All rights reserved. ENVI and IDL are registered trademarks of Harris
Corporation.
2. Complete Remote Sensing Image Analysis with ENVI Software a Udemy course by Matt
3. Greenshot for editing for screen capturing and editing.
4. ENVI 5.3 Help

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