An file to be processed using an ENVI Classifier will need to be a raster. It does not have to be in 'ENVI' format, it could be TIFF, NITF, HDF, etc. but it cannot be a vector file (or shapefile). I am not sure what an 'ascii binary' file would be. ASCII is readable using something like notepad while binary is not. If you have an ascii file of XYZ or a grid of ascii values, these would need to be imported to ENVI and converted to a raster. If you have LAS Lidar files, there is a native import tool for this under File ->Open External Format (using ENVI Classic or versions prior to ENVI 5). This converts the LAS file to a raster of either elevations or intensity, or both. This could be used in an unsupervised classification.

[QUOTE]MariM wrote An file to be processed using an ENVI Classifier will need to be a raster. It does not have to be in 'ENVI' format, it could be TIFF, NITF, HDF, etc. but it cannot be a vector file (or shapefile). I am not sure what an 'ascii binary' file would be. ASCII is readable using something like notepad while binary is not. If you have an ascii file of XYZ or a grid of ascii values, these would need to be imported to ENVI and converted to a raster. If you have LAS Lidar files, there is a native import tool for this under File ->Open External Format (using ENVI Classic or versions prior to ENVI 5). This converts the LAS file to a raster of either elevations or intensity, or both. This could be used in an unsupervised classification.[/QUOTE] Thanks! I've been going through this with a support rep and he's told me the same thing you told me, basically. I'm still having problems. I'm thinking it might have to do with the way I'm converting it? Is there a known space-delimited RAW data to .LAS converter?

I thought you said your data was in LAS format? If so, you can use the ENVI Lidar reader but it requires LAS format. I am still not clear on what format of data you have. Perhaps it would be best to contact technical support directly so they can work with your data.

[QUOTE]MariM wrote I thought you said your data was in LAS format? If so, you can use the ENVI Lidar reader but it requires LAS format. I am still not clear on what format of data you have. Perhaps it would be best to contact technical support directly so they can work with your data.[/QUOTE] I have RAW ASCII data and I convert it to LAS format using the BCAL LiDAR tools plugin. The files I create using this converter fail to convert to ENVI vector files. Is there a more known tool for conversion?

ENVI should read valid LAS format files but it sounds like the BCAL tool may be creating something ENVI does not recognize. LAS files should not be vector files, they should be in LAS format (binary) which then could be imported and converted to rasters in ENVI. It looks like you are working with one of the ENVI engineers in tech support which is probably best at this point.

[QUOTE]MariM wrote ENVI should read valid LAS format files but it sounds like the BCAL tool may be creating something ENVI does not recognize. LAS files should not be vector files, they should be in LAS format (binary) which then could be imported and converted to rasters in ENVI. It looks like you are working with one of the ENVI engineers in tech support which is probably best at this point.[/QUOTE] Just to clarify, I'm making .EVF (ENVI Vector Files) from the .LAS files, at least this is my goal. As you mentioned, my problems ARE coming from the BCAL Lidar Tools plugin. I downloaded LAStools and have had no problems with it. Thanks for helping!