Introduction of file formats
Observation data of Earth observation satellites are provided by various file types (formats). Here, we introduce typical file formats used for Earth observation satellite data.
| File format | Outline | File extension | Example of satellites/sensors |
|---|---|---|---|
| GeoTIFF | Adding geographical information (georeferenced data) to TIFF (Tagged Image File Format), image file format. Since it is a geotagged image file, it can be used by GIS software. Also, you can open the file with general image viewers. | .tiff .tif |
・ALOS/AVNIR-2、PRISM、PALSAR ・ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 ・CIRC ・SLATS/SHIROP |
| COG | Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF (COG). This format has a function to access only the necessary parts of the file in order to improve the efficiency of handling image data in cloud environment. It can be used in the same setting as GeoTIFF. | .tiff .tif |
|
| NetCDF | Network Common Data Form (NetCDF). This is a self-describing file format which can comprehensively handle array-oriented scientific data. You can use it through free libraliey. Also, viewing the data with tool is possible. | .nc | ・GCOM-C/SGLI |
| HDF | Hierarchical Data Format (HDF). This is a self-describing file format which can handle hierarchical data in various computer environment. You can use it through free libraliey. Also, viewing the data with tool is possible. There are two different versions, HDF4 and HDF5. They are not compatible each other. | .hdf .h4 .hdf4 .he2 .h5 .hdf5 .he5 |
・MOS-1、MOS-1b /MSR、VTIR ・ADEOS/OCTS ・ADEOS-II/AMSR、GLI ・Aqua/AMSR-E ・TRMM/PR ・GCOM-C/SGLI ・GCOM-W/AMSR2 ・GPM/DPR ・GSMaP |
| CEOS based format | The format is created based on CEOS (Committee on Earth Observation Satellites）standardized file format. There are two types of format, “CEOS-BSQ” in which the file is divided into bands and “CEOS-BIL” in which plural bands are multiplexed. The file composition is set depending on satellite data and the details are described at product format instructions, etc. | (Set by the data generating agency) | ・MOS-1、MOS-1b/MESSR、MSR、VTIR ・JERS-1/OPS、SAR ・ADEOS/AVNIR ・ALOS/AVNIR-2、 PRISM、PALSAR ・ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 |
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