Mosaic

Introduction This tour guide gives you the steps for mosaicking two or more
image files to produce one image file. The mosaicking process works
with rectified and/or calibrated images. Here, you are shown how to
mosaic air photo images as well as LANDSAT images.

Approximate completion time for this tour guide is 45 minutes.

Mosaic Using Air In this section, you use a template to mosaic two air photo images.
Photo Images The two files to be mosaicked are air-photo-1.img and
air-photo-2.img.
These data files are air photo images of the Oxford, Ohio area.
ERDAS IMAGINE should be running and a Viewer should be open.

1. In the Viewer, select File -> Open -> Raster Layer or click the

Open icon .
The Select Layer To Add dialog opens.

Click here
Click here to display
to access the file
the raster
options

Click here
to select
the file

Preview
window

2. In the Select Layer To Add dialog under Filename, select

air-photo-1.img from the file list.

3. Click the Raster Options tab at the top of the Select Layer To Add
dialog.

4. Click the Fit to Frame option to enable it.

ERDAS IMAGINE Tour Guides Mosaic Using Air Photo Images / 311
 5. Click OK in the Select Layer To Add dialog.
The file air-photo-1.img displays in the Viewer.

6. Click the Viewer icon on the ERDAS IMAGINE icon panel to create a
second Viewer.

7. Repeat step 1 through step 5 for the second Viewer, selecting

air-photo-2.img this time.

ERDAS IMAGINE Tour Guides Mosaic Using Air Photo Images / 312
 8. Position the Viewers side by side by selecting Session -> Tile
Viewers from the ERDAS IMAGINE menu bar.
You can resize each Viewer so that they take up less screen space by
dragging any corner of the Viewer.

9. In the ERDAS IMAGINE icon panel, click the DataPrep icon.

The Data Preparation menu displays.

Click to open the

Mosaic Images menu

10. In the Data Preparation menu, select Mosaic Images.

ERDAS IMAGINE Tour Guides Mosaic Using Air Photo Images / 313
 The Mosaic Images menu opens.

Select Mosaic
Tool

11. Select Mosaic Tool from the Mosaic Images menu. The Mosaic Tool
opens.

Menu bar

Toolbar

Files to be
mosaicked
are displayed
on the canvas

Status bar
displays single
line help

12. Click Close in the Data Preparation menu to clear it from the
screen.

Set Input Images

1. In the first Viewer containing air-photo-1.img, select AOI ->

Tools.
The AOI tool palette displays.

ERDAS IMAGINE Tour Guides Mosaic Using Air Photo Images / 314
 2. In the AOI tool palette, click the Polygon icon .

3. In the first Viewer, draw a polygon around the border of the inside
of the image, cutting out the fiducials, by moving your mouse around
the interior border of the image and clicking to draw vertices (that
is, on-screen digitize the outline of the image). Middle-click to close
the polygon.

NOTE: If you do not have a three-button mouse, you can double-

click to close the polygon.

When you are finished, the AOI layer is highlighted with a dotted line
and the image is surrounded by a bounding box. The image in the
first Viewer should look like the following example:

ERDAS IMAGINE Tour Guides Mosaic Using Air Photo Images / 315
Create a Template

1. When you have finished drawing the polygon, select File -> Save
-> AOI Layer As in the first Viewer.
The Save AOI As dialog opens.

Enter the directory and

file name here

Click here to save

the AOI

2. Under Save AOI as, enter template.aoi in the directory of your

choice and click OK.

3. In the Mosaic Tool viewer, select Edit -> Add Images, or click the

Add Images icon .

The Add Images for Mosaic dialog opens.

Click this tab to

choose options
such as
Select this Template AOI
file and the
accompanying
Set button.

4. Under File, select air-photo-1.img.

5. Under Image Area Options, click the Template AOI radio button,
and then click the accompanying Set button.

ERDAS IMAGINE Tour Guides Mosaic Using Air Photo Images / 316
 Click this
tab

Click
Template
AOI

Click Set

The Choose AOI dialog opens.

Click this radio button

Enter the appropriate

path and file name here

Click here when finished

6. In the Choose AOI dialog under AOI Source, select File.

7. Under AOI File, select template.aoi from the directory where you
saved it.

8. Click OK in the Choose AOI dialog.

9. Click OK in the Add Images dialog to display air-photo-1.img in the

Mosaic Viewer.

10. Click the Add Images icon to open the Add Images dialog.

11. In the Add Images for Mosaic dialog under File, select
air-photo-2.img.

12. Under Image Area Options, click the Template AOI button and
click Set.

13. In the Choose AOI dialog, select template.aoi from the directory
where you saved it.

14. Click OK in the Choose AOI dialog.

ERDAS IMAGINE Tour Guides Mosaic Using Air Photo Images / 317
 15. Click OK in the Add Images dialog.
The data for air-photo-2.img displays in the Mosaic Image List
CellArray, and a graphic of the image displays on top of the
air-photo-2.img graphic in the canvas of the Mosaic Tool viewer.

Click this for input Match histograms, color balance, or image dodge
mode using this icon

16. If the Image List is not automatically displayed at the bottom of the
Mosaic Tool viewer, go to Edit -> Show Image Lists, and select it.
The Mosaic Image List displays at the bottom of the Mosaic Tool
viewer with the images listed in the CellArray.

ERDAS IMAGINE Tour Guides Mosaic Using Air Photo Images / 318
Identify Areas of
Intersection

1. In the Mosaic Tool viewer, click the Intersection icon to see the
intersection lines between the two images.

2. In the canvas of the Mosaic Tool viewer, click in the overlapping area
of the two images.
The lines that overlap the two images are highlighted in yellow.

Click here

Draw a Cutline The Mosaic Tool enables you to draw one cutline through all the
images or a single cutline in an individual image.

1. In the Mosaic Tool viewer, click the Cutline Selection icon .

Viewer #3 opens, displaying the two images as they intersect.

ERDAS IMAGINE Tour Guides Mosaic Using Air Photo Images / 319
 Zoom in here

2. Use the Zoom In icon in the Viewer #3 toolbar to zoom in on the

spot where you draw your cutline. (Do this by selecting the Zoom In
icon and then clicking on the spot for which you want a closer view.)

3. Select the Line icon on the AOI tool palette.

Once in the Viewer, the cursor becomes a crosshair.

4. In Viewer #3, draw the cutline by digitizing the intersecting portion

(the portion marked by the AOI box). Middle-click when finished.

NOTE: When drawing cutlines, it is best to trace linear landmarks,

such as rivers or roads. This conceals any seams in the resulting
mosaic.

NOTE: If you do not have a three-button mouse, you can double-

click to close the polygon.

ERDAS IMAGINE Tour Guides Mosaic Using Air Photo Images / 320
 Draw the
cutline between
these two
points

5. In the Mosaic Tool viewer, click the AOI Cutline icon .

The Choose Cutline Source dialog opens.

6. In the Choose Cutline Source dialog select AOI from Viewer and
Apply cutlines to selected regions only (the default), and click
OK.

7. An Attention dialog opens, warning you that cutlines can be lost if

projection is changed. Click Yes in the dialog.
The cutline is highlighted in red in the Mosaic Tool viewer canvas.

ERDAS IMAGINE Tour Guides Mosaic Using Air Photo Images / 321
 8. Click the Function icon in the Mosaic Tool viewer.
The Set Overlap Function dialog opens.

Click these
options

Click Apply

ERDAS IMAGINE Tour Guides Mosaic Using Air Photo Images / 322
 9. In the Set Overlap Function dialog under Intersection Type, select
Cutline Exists.

10. Under Select Function, select Feathering.

11. In the Set Overlap Function dialog, click Apply and then Close.

NOTE: The cutline viewer automatically zooms to whatever is in the

Mosaic Tool. In order to only show the overlapping area in the
viewer, you need to click the Scale Canvas to Fit Selected Objects
icon .

Define Output Images

1. In the Mosaic Tool viewer, click the Output icon to activate the
output mode.

2. In the Mosaic Tool viewer, click the Output Image icon .

The Output Image Options dialog opens.

Make sure Union

is selected

3. In the Output Image Options dialog under Define Output Map

Area(s), make sure that Union of All Inputs is selected and click
OK.

Run the Mosaic

1. In the Mosaic Tool viewer, select Process -> Run Mosaic.

The Output File Name dialog opens.

ERDAS IMAGINE Tour Guides Mosaic Using Air Photo Images / 323
 Enter the name
of the output
file here

Click this
checkbox to
activate it

2. In the Run Mosaic dialog under Output File Name, enter AirMosaic
in the directory of your choice, the press Enter on your keyboard.

3. Click the Output Options tab.

4. Click the Stats Ignore Value checkbox to activate it.

5. Click OK in the Run Mosaic dialog.

A Job Status dialog displays, showing the progress of the function.

6. Click OK when the Job Status dialog reads that the function is 100%
complete.

NOTE: The Job Status dialog may close automatically, depending on

your settings in Session -> Preferences -> User Interface &
Session -> Keep Job Status Box.

Display the Mosaic

1. Click Viewer in the ERDAS IMAGINE icon panel.

A new Viewer displays.

ERDAS IMAGINE Tour Guides Mosaic Using Air Photo Images / 324
 2. Click the Open icon in the new Viewer.
The Select Layer To Add dialog opens.

3. In the Select Layer To Add dialog under Filename, select

AirMosaic.img from the directory in which you saved it.

4. Click the Raster Options tab and click Fit To Frame.

5. Click OK.
AirMosaic.img displays in the Viewer.

6. Compare AirMosaic.img to the original images (air-photo-1.img

and air-photo-2.img).

Automatically In addition to drawing a cutline, you can use Mosaic Tool to

automatically generate them. In this exercise you use the 2-2.img
Generate Cutlines and 2-3.img data in the examples file to generate a cutline and
discover how this feature works. You will be starting a new Mosaic
Tool Viewer for this exercise.

1. Click the DataPrep icon in the IMAGINE toolbar.

2. Click Mosaic Images in the Data Preparation dialog.

The Mosaic Tool opens.

3. Click Close in the Data Preparation dialog to close it.

ERDAS IMAGINE Tour Guides Automatically Generate Cutlines / 325