How to open ASTER data with HDF format

ASTER data products are available in the format called HDF-EOS. HDF (Hierarchical Data Format) is developed by NCSA (National Center for Supercomputing Applications) at the Illinois State University and is compatible with various formats of science data. HDF-EOS has expanded HDF functions to execute the display of the EOS data efficiently, and the ECS (EOSDIS Core System) regulations, data types, and metadata are added. Moreover, geographic information (point, grid and swath) is added, enabling desired data to be searched from the position and time on the earth surface.  Strictly, EOSView is the only program that can fully utilize HDF-EOS.

In the meantime, there are other standard HDF-EOS viewers that can display but does not include the geographic subsetting function despite that it is the most distinct feature of HDF-EOS. As for public institutions, the Illinois State University where NCSA is located, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) where development of the earth observation instruments and application of earth observation data are conducted, and as for private sector, the Fortner Company, provide various HDF viewers and related utilities.

This section describes HDF-EOS and EOS viewers which are provided free of charge by NASA and other public institutions and other private organizations. In addition, various utilities applicable for analysis of HDF data or other purposes can be downloaded from the following URL for free.

NCSA: http://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu/tools.html#hdf_browser/

HDF-EOS or HDF viewers available for free

(1) EOSView
EOSView is a tool for displaying, inspecting, and verifying HDF-EOS files. The image analysis function is not included. Even if the structure of a file is unidentified, it can successfully display the grid, point, and swath str! uctures. The latest version is 2.2 (verified), but the 2.3 beta version is also available. The following platforms support this program:
DEC Alpha Digital Unix 4.0
HP 9000/735 HP-UX A.10.01
IBM RS-6000 AIX 4.2
Sun Sparc Solaris 2.5.1
SGI Power Challenge IRIX 6.2 (32 and 64 bit modes)
The program and its manual can be downloaded from the following URL for free.
EOSView: http://newsroom.hitc.com/sdptoolkit/toolkit.html
EOSView Manual:
http://edhs1.gsfc.nasa.gov/waisdata/sdp/html/tp4450602.html

(2) Transform
Fortner offers a free HDF-EOS viewer called Transform. It can be used on the following platforms.
Wows 3.1/NT/95
Macintosh System 7.0 or later
Sun Microsystems SPARCstationSunOS 4.1+Solaris 2.1+MotifOpen Windows 3
Silicon Graphics SGI Irix 5.3+6.0+
HP HP9000 series 700/800HP UX 8.07+
This program can be downloaded from the URL below.
Visit: http://www.fortner.com/

(3) PV-WAVE
PV-WAVE is offered by Visual Numerics. This viewer can be used at no cost for a trial period of one month. It can be used on the following platforms.
Intel PC Windows NT/2000/95/98
Intel PC Red Hat Linux 6.0
Digital Equipment Digital UNIX 4.0
Hewlett Packard HP-UX 10.2/11.0
IBM AIX 4.3
SGI IRIX6.5
SUN Microsystems Solaris 2.6
This program can be downloaded from the URL below. The license number necessary for installation must be obtained from Visual Numerics by e-mail or phone. Then a free CD-ROM will be sent to the requester.
Visit: http://www.vni.com/

(4) ENVISION
Free software developed at the Atmospheric Science Department of the Illinois State University. The following platforms support this program.

IBM RS6000 AIX 3.2.5
HP 700 HP/UX 9.0
Sun Sparc SunOS 4.1.3
SGI IRIX 5.2
DEC Alpha OSF 2.0
This program can be downloaded from the URL below.
Visit: http://www.atmos.uiuc.edu/

(5) Linked Windows Interactive Data System (LinkWinds)
An image data viewer developed by NASA/JPL. The latest version is 2.2. It can be used on SGI, Sun, IBM, HP, and
PC-based Linux workstations. This program can be downloaded for free from the URL below.
Visit: http://linkwinds.jpl.nasa.gov/

(6) NCSA Java HDF Interface (JHI) and Java HDF Viewer (JHV)
Free software developed by NCSA. The following platforms support this program.
UNIX Solaris
Solaris-x86
SGI IRIX 5.3 and 6.2
Windows 95/NT
This program can be downloaded for free from the URL below.
Visit: http://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu/java-hdf-html/

(7) ASTER Data Opener (2003/5/6 Update)
This is a tool used for converting HDF format ASTER data to a single band or to BSQ format. By using this tool, users can browse through the ASTER data with such general programs as the Photoshop, etc. in BSQ format. Operating environment
CPU Intel Pentium120MHz (166MHz and over is recommended)
Memory 64MB (128MB and over is recommended)
Operation check OS Windows98SE
Windows Me
WindowsNT (4.0 and over)
Windows2000
Disk capacity Software: around 1MB (including library, etc.)
Data capacity Depending on the data observed
For reference
VNIR : 20MB/Band
TIR : 2MB/Band
SWIR : 5MB/Band

The version released in March 2003 can be used for the following products.
L1A, L1B, L2A02,L2A03V,L2A03S,L2B01V, L2B01S,L2B01T,
L2B03T,L2B04T,L2B05V, L2B05S, L3A01(Ortho), L4A01Z(DEM)

For the version released in May 2003, the correct granule ID is shown after modifying the problem of the granule ID digit number appearing short of one digit in Source Data Product part on the details display screen at the time of selecting the data. ASTER Data Opener can be downloaded free of charge from the website below. (The file is over 6M in size. Please be aware when downloading.)
http://www.gds.aster.ersdac.or.jp/gds_www2002/Opener/ASTERDataOpener.lzh

(8) MultiSpec (New version ! recommended software)

This is a tool used for open the image files in ASTER HDF format .
Macintoshe OSX 10.1.* and Mac OS 9.* or less.
Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP

Please confirm other versions on the following download sites.
http://dynamo.ecn.purdue.edu/~biehl/MultiSpec/

Please refer to the summary of the usage of this tool. How to open the image files in ASTER HDF format using MultiSpec

(9) Crosstalk correction software
Software for correcting crosstalk phenomenon for Level 1B product is available. You can download the software for free in the following website (Please refer to the Notification! below). Address:
http://www.gds.aster.ersdac.or.jp/gds_www2002/service_e/u.tools_e/cross/CRSTK30.lzh

Crosstalk correction for Level 2 products is also available as an option, when you order the products via IMS of ASTER GDS.

Notification!
Operation environment:
OS Memory size Disk size
Crosstalk correction S/W Windows95 or later 128Mbyte or more 1Gbyte or more

Please note that the crosstalk correction software cannot completely remove crosstalks generated in images. Operation of the software cannot be guaranteed under certain PC environments.

If you need other assistances relating ASTER data and its processing, please donft be hesitate to contact office@indomicrowave.com.