Saturday, October 3, 2026

Resources

Software

We will be using ArcGIS and Erdas IMAGINE during the course. You can obtain trail versions of this software; alternatively your university may already have a license. To our knowledge, the software works on Macintosh computers if Windows is running on the computer; also the software should work with Windows 7. If you have a problem installing the software, please contact the respective vendors.

ArcGIS

  • To find out if your university has an ArcGIS license or if you have any other issues with the trial version find your representative

Erdas IMAGINE

  • You can get a 30 day trial version of IMAGINE (Advantage or Professional)
  • You can contact Diane Geheber with any licensing issues (this happens more often with Erdas). She can also tell you if your university has a license for IMAGINE.

Diane E. Geheber
Direct: 225-343-3905
Fax: 225-387-8750
Toll free: 1-866-282-4325
TeamHEAK@erdas.com

Getting Started: GIS Tutorial

Prior to class, and particularly if you have not been exposed to GIS before, we ask that you complete a GIS tutorial so you become with some of the basic concepts and software tools. Please complete Getting Started with GIS class (all three modules).

Spatial Data Sources: A Sample of Sites of Interest

Key Places to Begin: contain both satellite images and other spatially explicit data

• Earth Explorer or new Earth Explorer
• GIS Data Map Studio
• Global Land Cover Facility
• Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center
• Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center
• National Geospatial Program
• National Map Seamless Server
• USGS Global Visualization Viewer

Specific Raw Satellite Images:

• ALOS PALSAR
• LPDACC MODIS and ASTER data
• RADARSAT
• SeaWiFS
• Spot Image, French SPOT Satellite Images
• Quickbird/Worldview

Other Resources:

• Earth Observatory – Blue Marble
• Landsat Program Info
• NASA
• NASA Earth Observatory
• National Spatial Data Infrastructure
• Visible Earth

Spatially explicit datasets/information:

• Cartographic Boundary Files – U.S. Census Bureau
• FAO
• Geospatial One Stop
• GIS Data Depot
• GIS Resources at IUB
• Global Land Project
• International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change
• TIGER/Line Shapefiles – U.S. Census Bureau
• UNEP/GRID
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Geospatial Data Inventory
• USDA Geospatial Data Gateway
• The International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP)

Digital Elevation Models:

• ASTER Generated DEM
• Hydrosheds
• Shuttle Radar topo/DEM data
• Shuttle Radar Topography Mission Digital Terrain Elevation Data (DTED)
• Shuttle Radar Topography Mission Water Body Dataset

Regionally Specific Datasets:

• Brazil spatial and tabular data
• Indiana Geological Survey
• INPE (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, Brasil)

GIS/RS Software

• ArcGIS
• ENVI
• ERDAS IMAGINE/ER Mapper
• Google Earth, free GIS software
• GPS TrackMaker
• GRASS
• IDRISI
• MapWindow Open Source GIS
• Multispec (Purdue/LARS)
• NASA World Wind
• Open Source GIS
• PCI Geomatics
• SPRING GIS Software