Abstract - A New Suite of Extensions for ArcView GIS to Directly Read Military Raster Formats

Track: Defense and Intelligence

Kerry Phelps
Esri
380 New York Street
Redlands, CA 92373

Telephone:
Fax:
E-mail: kphelps@Esri.com

Emmanuel Devys, Nicholas Lesage

A New Suite of Extensions for ArcView GIS to Directly Read Military Raster Formats

Defining Issue: Until now, Esri products have been unable to read some military standard raster products, including Compressed Arc Digitized Raster Graphics (CADRG), Controlled Image Base (CIB), the National Imagery Transmission Format (NITF) and the two raster formats of the DIGEST specification, ASRP and USRP. The ability to view these formats could be beneficial to a number of applications, including as a background for vector coverages. GIS Solution: The Military Data Reader extensions for ArcView have been developed to display these georeferenced raster formats without translation. DigestKernel* Software libraries developed by the French Ministry of Defense Geomatics R&D department, Cellule d'Etude en Geographie Numerique (CEGN), were used to enable the viewing of georeferenced DIGEST raster data (ASRP and USRP).Methodology: The CADRG, CIB and NITF extensions were all developed similarly using code previously written for stand-alone convertors of these formats into ArcInfo GRID format. The DIGEST Raster Formats extension uses software libraries developed by CEGN to read ASRP and USRP image data or metadata. The extension allows the user to directly view an ASRP or USRP image, or to view the image's metadata stored in its GEN, GER, SOU, or QAL files. Once the Military Data Reader extensions are loaded and an image is added to a view, the image can be displayed and queried like any other ArcView image source.Glossary:DIGES: Digital Geographic Exchange Standard (Military and NATO standard), constructed by DGIWG (participating in ISO TC 211)DGIWG: Digital Geographic Information Working Group (gathering of 11 NATO countries)ISO TC 211: ISO Geomatics and Geographic Information GroupASRP: ARC Standard Raster ProductUSRP: UTM/UPS Standard Raster ProductUTM: Universal Transverse Mercator (projection)UPS: Universal Polar Stereographic (projection)CEN, GER, SOU, QAL: DIGEST header files containing metadata, respectively general metadata (location, size, bounding rectangle), geographic reference, source information, quality.* Proprietary of the French Ministry of Defense. Restricted use, granted to Esri for use in ArcView, and protected through Esri's ArcView licensing agreement.