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NV5 Geospatial Blog

Each month, NV5 Geospatial posts new blog content across a variety of categories. Browse our latest posts below to learn about important geospatial information or use the search bar to find a specific topic or author. Stay informed of the latest blog posts, events, and technologies by joining our email list!



Mapping Earthquake Deformation in Taiwan With ENVI

Mapping Earthquake Deformation in Taiwan With ENVI

12/15/2025

Unlocking Critical Insights With ENVI® Tools Taiwan sits at the junction of major tectonic plates and regularly experiences powerful earthquakes. Understanding how the ground moves during these events is essential for disaster preparedness, public safety, and building community resilience. But traditional approaches like field... Read More >

Comparing Amplitude and Coherence Time Series With ICEYE US GTR Data and ENVI SARscape

Comparing Amplitude and Coherence Time Series With ICEYE US GTR Data and ENVI SARscape

12/3/2025

Large commercial SAR satellite constellations have opened a new era for persistent Earth monitoring, giving analysts the ability to move beyond simple two-image comparisons into robust time series analysis. By acquiring SAR data with near-identical geometry every 24 hours, Ground Track Repeat (GTR) missions minimize geometric decorrelation,... Read More >

Empowering D&I Analysts to Maximize the Value of SAR

Empowering D&I Analysts to Maximize the Value of SAR

12/1/2025

Defense and intelligence (D&I) analysts rely on high-resolution imagery with frequent revisit times to effectively monitor operational areas. While optical imagery is valuable, it faces limitations from cloud cover, smoke, and in some cases, infrequent revisit times. These challenges can hinder timely and accurate data collection and... Read More >

Easily Share Workflows With the Analytics Repository

Easily Share Workflows With the Analytics Repository

10/27/2025

With the recent release of ENVI® 6.2 and the Analytics Repository, it’s now easier than ever to create and share image processing workflows across your organization. With that in mind, we wrote this blog to: Introduce the Analytics Repository Describe how you can use ENVI’s interactive workflows to... Read More >

Deploy, Share, Repeat: AI Meets the Analytics Repository

Deploy, Share, Repeat: AI Meets the Analytics Repository

10/13/2025

The upcoming release of ENVI® Deep Learning 4.0 makes it easier than ever to import, deploy, and share AI models, including industry-standard ONNX models, using the integrated Analytics Repository. Whether you're building deep learning models in PyTorch, TensorFlow, or using ENVI’s native model creation tools, ENVI... Read More >

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Upsampling images with Lanczos kernel

Anonym
Resampling images is a very common operation in IDL, and it can happen both implicitly as well explicitly. Implicit resampling happens with IDLgrImage rendering. When the destination rendering area contains fewer pixels than the original image, then downsampling occurs. When the destination area is larger than the original image, then upsampling occurs. There are many options for upsampling algorithms. The simplest is a pure pixel replication to fill in the gaps. This is useful when there is a need to look closely at the original data. However, if the goal is to look for details in the scene that may be approaching the limits of the image resolution, then a more sophisticated resampling algorithm should be chosen instead. There are a few options that are commonly used. Bilinear interpolation and cubic spline interpolation are both options that are available with the CONGRID function in IDL. Lanczos and Lagrange resampling are two other options that are more computationally intensive. In the code below, I am showing an example comparing the Lanczos resampling kernel with bilinear and pixel replication. Lanczos resampling is often preferred because of its ability to preserve and even enhance local contrast, whereas bilinear tends have a blurring effect.
function lanczos, data
 
  xval = [-3:3:.25]
  lanc3 = 3*sin(!pi*xval)*(sin(!pi*xval/3d)/!pi/!pi/xval/xval)
  lanc3[where(xval eq 0)] = 1
  l2d = lanc3 # lanc3
  ; high resolution version
  msk = fltarr(data.dim*4)
  msk[0:*:4,0:*:4] = data
  hi = convol(msk, l2d, /edge_trunc)
  hi = byte(round(hi>0<255))
  return, hi
end
 
pro upsample_example
  compile_opt idl2,logical_predicate
 
  ; Read the original image data
  f = filepath('moon_landing.png', subdir=['examples','data'])
  data = read_png(f)
  dim = data.dim
 
  window, xsize=dim[0], ysize=dim[1], 0, title='Original full size'
  tv, data
 
  ; Define a zoomed in are on the flag.
  xs = 200
  ys = 165
  dx = 40
  dy = 40
 
  ; display upsampled 4x with pixel replication
  window, xsize=160, ysize=160, 1, title='CONGRID pixel-replication'
  tv, congrid(data[xs:xs+dx-1,ys:ys+dy-1],160,160)
 
  ; display upsampled 4x with bilinear interpretation
  window, xsize=160, ysize=160, 2, title='CONGRID linear'
  tv, congrid(data[xs:xs+dx-1,ys:ys+dy-1],160,160,/interp)
 
  ; display upsampled 4x with Lanczos convolution
  window, xsize=160, ysize=160, 3, title='Lanczos'
  tv, (lanczos(data))[xs*4:xs*4+dx*4-1,ys*4:ys*4+dy*4-1]
end

 

The results are shown here, starting with the original image, then the 4x zoomed area with pixel replication, then the 4x zoomed with bilinear interpolation, and finally the 4x zoomed with Lanczos convolution. The Lanczos convolution has the advantage of retaining good contrast while avoiding looking too pixelated.

   

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