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ENVI 5.3.1 Release Notes

System Requirements

Platform

Hardware

Operating System

Supported Versions a

Windows

Intel/AMD 64-bit b

Windows

7, 8, 10

Macintosh

Intel 64-bit

OSX

10.9, 10.10 c

Linux

Intel/AMD 64-bit

Linux

Kernel 2.6.32, glibc 2.12

a Supported versions indicate that ENVI was either built on (the lowest version listed) or tested on that version. You can install and run ENVI on other versions that are binary-compatible with those listed.

b 32-bit installers for Windows are no longer available. However, the 32-bit binaries are still provided with the 64-bit Windows installer so that you can launch ENVI in 32-bit mode on 64-bit Windows systems. This ensures interoperability with ArcGIS. You can find the 32-bit versions of ENVI in the ENVI 5.3 program group under Start > Programs > ENVI 5.3 > ENVI for ArcGIS and Tools > ENVI Classic 5.3 (32-bit).

c An X-Windows manager is required for Macintosh. ENVI was tested using XQuartz 2.7.4.

For optimal performance, your video card should have a minimum of 1 GB RAM and should support OpenGL 2.0 or later. Also be sure to install the latest drivers for your video card.

ENVI Help requires an HTML5-compatible browser.

New Features

This software release includes the new and enhanced features listed below. See the following sections:

Sensors and Data Formats

ENVI reads and displays imagery from the following sensors and data formats:

  • Windows only: COLLADA 1.4.1 and 1.5. Support is provided for building extraction when using the ENVI LiDAR API. See the ENVIPointCloudFeatureExtractionTask and ENVIPointCloudProductsInfo help topics for details.

Platform Support

Linux support for ENVI LiDAR has been added for the ENVI API. The ENVI LiDAR user interface is not available on Linux installations.

32-bit installers for Windows are no longer available. However, the 32-bit binaries are still provided with the 64-bit Windows installer so that you can launch ENVI in 32-bit mode on 64-bit Windows systems. This ensures interoperability with ArcGIS. You can find the 32-bit versions of ENVI in the ENVI 5.3 program group under Start > Programs > ENVI 5.3 > ENVI for ArcGIS and Tools > ENVI Classic 5.3 (32-bit).

Image Processing and Display

You can use the Data Manager to display an RGB layer using bands from different coregistered images. Example use cases include medical imagery, microscopy imagery, time series imagery, or any scenario where imagery is distributed with separate bands in separate files. See the "Manage Raster Layers" help topic for instructions. This only creates a layer for display. To create an RGB layer that you can export, continue to use the Layer Stacking tool or the ENVIMetaspectralRaster routine in the API.

Landsat GeoTIFF files with metadata (*MTL.txt) are displayed with the data ignore value header field set to 0. As a result, scan line and background pixels display as 'No Data'.

Use the Calculate Cloud Mask Using Fmask Algorithm tool to create a cloud mask for all Landsat sensors. ENVI uses the Fmask algorithm cited in the following references:

Zhu, Z., S. Wang, and C. E. Woodcock. "Improvement and Expansion of the Fmask Algorithm: Cloud, Cloud Shadow, and Snow Detection for Landsats 4-7, 8, and Sentinel 2 Images." Remote Sensing of Environment 159 (2015): 269-277, doi:10.1016/j.rse.2014.12.014 (paper for Fmask version 3.2).
Zhu, Z., and C. E. Woodcock. "Object-based cloud and cloud shadow detection in Landsat imagery." Remote Sensing of Environment 118 (2012): 83-94, doi:10.1016/j.rse.2011.10.028 (paper for Fmask version 1.6).

The ENVI LiDAR application automatically reprojects any background shapefiles that you import to match the projection of the current project.

Use the Generate GCPs From Reference Image tool to automatically generate ground control points (GCPs) for an input raster. The process works by matching and using the geographic coordinates of an orthorectified base image. The elevation values of the GCPs are calculated from a DEM raster. The input raster must have an RPC spatial reference. This tool allows you to generate GCPs for further manipulation or for immediate use with applications such image-to-map registration, Rigorous Orthorectification, DEM Extraction, and the RPC Orthorectification workflow.

Use the RPC Orthorectification Using Reference Image tool to perform a refined RPC orthorectification by automatically generating GCPs from an orthorectified reference image. This is an automated end-to-end solution; continue to use the RPC Orthorectification workflow if you want to edit GCPs and to review error statistics in an interactive environment.

The RPC Orthorectification tutorial uses new data files: an OrbView-3 source image, a National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) reference image, and a National Elevation Dataset (NED) DEM at 1/9 arc-second resolution. The tutorial shows how to automatically generate GCPs in the RPC Orthorectification Workflow and with the RPC Orthorectification Using Reference Image tool.

User Interface

The Cursor Value tool was redesigned as follows:

  • The main toolbar no longer contains a Crosshairs button. Instead, the Cursor Value dialog has an On demand updates button. When this button is active, you can click on a pixel or vector record in the display and a set of crosshairs (now called a probe) is displayed over that location. The Cursor Value dialog reports information for the selected pixel or vector record.
  • When the On demand updates button is active, you can copy cursor value information to the system clipboard.
  • Disable the On demand updates button to turn off the probe and to report real-time pixel information as you move around the display.
  • You can report cursor value information for the top layer only or all available layers.
  • When multiple views of georeferenced data are displayed and the On demand updates button is active, you can link the views. Moving the probe in one view will move it to the corresponding location in the other views.

The File > Open As menu was divided into different categories of sensors and data formats.

The Data Manager, Layer Manager, and Spectral Profiles show wavelength colors next to each listed band if wavelengths are defined in the header file. Bands with invisible wavelengths are colored black. If an image has bad bands defined in the header file, those bands are marked with a warning symbol.

Spectral Profiles have a new Wavelength Color option to display visible wavelength colors along the x-axis.

Right-click on the View icon in the Layer Manager and select Show All Layers and Hide All Layers to show/hide all layers at once.

Right-click on a raster layer in the Layer Manager and select Export Layer to TIFF to save the full raster layer extent and image enhancements to a TIFF file, at full resolution.

Use the File > Export View To > Image File menu option to export all contents of a view to an RGB 24-bit image file in ENVI or TIFF/GeoTIFF format. The output image preserves any vector layers, annotation layers, feature counting layers, raster color slices, and image enhancements. You can set the output zoom factor, or if the view has a base standard map projection, you can set the output map scale.

The Navigation window of the ENVI LiDAR application contains a View Point Density setting that allows you to preview different point-density settings in the Main window. It does not affect the point density for final processing.

When distinct point classifications are present in the input file, click on the new Color by Classification button in the ENVI LiDAR application toolbar to color points by classification.

The Edit Raster Color Slices dialog was updated as follows:

  • Click on any color to display a color selection dialog where you can choose a different color for a specific range of values.
  • A new Export drop-down button lets you export the color slices to a shapefile or classification image.

The Dataset Browser now supports HDF5 one-dimensional datasets.

Programming

The ENVI API Programming Guide has a new "Frequently Asked Questions" topic.

The following ENVITasks are available:

Task

Description

ENVICalculateCloudMaskUsingFmaskTask

Calculate a cloud mask for Landsat imagery using the Fmask algorithm.

ENVIGenerateGCPsFromTiePointsTask

Generate two sets of ground control points (GCPs) from input tie points. You can use the resulting GCPs in ENVI applications such as RPC Orthorectification and image-to-map registration.

ENVIGenerateGCPsFromReferenceImageTask

Generate GCPs for an input raster by matching and using the geographic coordinates of a reference image. You can use the resulting GCPs in ENVI applications such as RPC Orthorectification and image-to-map registration.

ENVIRegisterRasterWithGeoServerTask

Register a raster with GeoServer.

ENVIRegisterVectorWithGeoServerTask

Register a vector with GeoServer.

ENVIRPCOrthorectificationUsingReferenceImageTask

Perform a refined RPC orthorectification by automatically generating GCPs from a reference image.

The following objects and methods are available:

Object/Method

Description

ENVINITFMetadata

Return an IDL dictionary of NITF metadata from one or more NITF rasters. The top-level dictionary is a collection of IDL lists and dictionaries that contain the various segments of metadata: header, image, text, annotation (graphics), and data extension segments (DESes).

ENVIPixelwiseBandMathRaster

Construct an ENVIRaster from a source raster that has a simple mathematical expression applied on a pixel-by-pixel basis.

ENVIRasterLayer::Export

Save a raster layer to TIFF format.

ENVIRasterMetadata::HasTag

Check if a specified metadata field exists.

ENVIView::Export

Export all contents of a view to an RGB 24-bit image file. The output image preserves any vector layers, annotation layers, feature counting layers, raster color slices, and image enhancements.

ENVIHydratable

This is an abstract interface class that is subclassed by any class that wants to support serialization to a hash representation.

ENVIHydrate

Create ENVI objects from a hash description of their properties instead of using their dedicated routines. This allows you to store the object state and restore it in a later IDL session, or apply a virtual raster chain of processes by building a hash instead of calling multiple functions.

ENVIURLRaster

Create a new ENVIRaster from a file or uniform resource indicator (URI).

ENVICoordSys::Dehydrate

Return a hash describing these objects. You can use this information in a later ENVI session to restore the objects using the ENVIFactory function.

ENVIGCPSet::Dehydrate

ENVIGridDefinition::Dehydrate

ENVIMosaicRaster::Dehydrate

ENVIPseudoRasterSpatialRef::Dehydrate

ENVIRaster::Dehydrate

ENVIRasterSeries::Dehydrate

ENVIRasterMetadata::Dehydrate

ENVIROI::Dehydrate

ENVIRPCRasterSpatialRef::Dehydrate

ENVIStandardRasterSpatialRef::Dehydrate

ENVISpectralLibrary::Dehydrate

ENVITiePointSet::Dehydrate

ENVIVector::Dehydrate

Fixed Issues

ENVI-69078

Seamless Mosaic feathering resulted in missing data when the input scene footprints had self-intersecting polygons.

ENVI-70094

Using the Seamless Mosaic tool with Landsat 8 data and automatic seamline generation resulted in a large area of missing data.

ENVI-70164

The ENVIRaster::GetData method returned too many bands when using complex data and passing in the PIXEL_STATE keyword.

ENVI-70251

The Raster Color Slice tool's Export to Class Image function produced an image that was not readable by ENVIClassificationAggregationTask.

ENVI-70266

The Dataset Browser did not support HDF5 one-dimensional datasets.

ENVI-70423

The Change RGB Bands option did not honor the Zoom Interpolation Method preference.

ENVI-70496

The Layer Stacking tool did not preserve gains and offsets.

ENVI-70529

An error occurred when opening a Windows raster series catalog file on Linux.

ENVI-70534

The Cursor Value tool incorrectly reported 'NoData' when multiple arbitrary map-based rasters were displayed.

ENVI-70550

The ENVIRasterMetadata object issued a confusing error message when setting a one-element array for field names.

ENVI-70553

An error occurred when opening ESRI layer files on Windows 64-bit systems.

ENVI-70554

Reprojected RPC rasters displayed the wrong bounding box when a layer was selected.

ENVI-70556

The version number was missing from the ENVI startup screen.

ENVI-70561

ENVI crashed if a classification file was edited during a workflow.

ENVI-70568

The NNDiffuse Pan Sharpening dialog did not show OK and Cancel buttons.

ENVI-70571

An error occurred when setting the INPUT_BINSIZE property on ENVIRasterHistogramTask.

ENVI-70575

ENVIMetaspectralRaster issued an error message if the input rasters did not have wavelength unit metadata.

ENVI-70583

ALSAT-2A bands were not listed in increasing wavelength order in the Data Manager.

ENVI-70586

The Metadata Viewer did not include units in the Spectral node.

ENVI-70587

Acquisition time metadata was missing when ENVI read Landsat 8 data.

ENVI-70588

An error occurred when dragging and dropping a file from the Data Manager to the Layer Manager when the file icon passed over a portal icon in the Layer Manager.

ENVI-70595

Users could not select a mask for QUAC processing.

ENVI-70598

Using the Edit Class Names and Colors tool resulted in a loss of map projection information.

ENVI-70597

Searching for "measure", "measurement", and "distance" in the ENVI Help did not locate the Mensuration tool topic.

ENVI-70599

SPEAR Change Detection: 2CMV output colors were reversed when saving to NITF.

ENVI-70608

Acquisition time metadata was missing when ENVI read the *.orientation.xml file for ZY-1-02C and ZY-3 data.

ENVI-70612

ENVI crashed when reading TIFF files with invalid map information.

ENVI-70613

Raster color slices did not update until the image was moved or turned off/on in the Layer Manager.

ENVI-70621

Selecting a single band for the Map Variable to Input File field in Band Math caused an error.

ENVI-70623

Calibration to radiance generated incorrect results when rasters contained data-ignore values.

ENVI-70627

Some Sentinel-2 data displayed different bands for different granules.

ENVI-70631

Manipulating the display with Sentinel-2 data resulted in slow performance.

ENVI-70633

The Quick Stats tool did not take into account the data ignore value when calculating histogram statistics.

ENVI-70634

Data values were incorrect when displaying multiple raster layers when one is rotated.

ENVI-70637

Spectral subsetting in the Spectral Hourglass Wizard gave different results with MTMF, compared to subsetting before using the Wizard.

ENVI-70645

Using the Seamless Mosaic tool with Landsat 8 data and feathering resulted in missing data or clear-cut borders.

ENVI-70646

The ENVILinearPercentStretchRaster routine returned all zeros if the input raster had a data-ignore value or mask.

ENVI-70653

Example code in the ENVIRasterHistogramTask help topic did not work correctly.

ENVI-70655

The Geocorrect and Mitigate Bowtie Effect tool did not open all bands in NPP VIIRS HDF5 files. ENVI builds new pyramid files with different names than before. Please delete any old pyramid files that were generated for NPP VIIRS files.

ENVI-70657

Global spatial statistics used an arbitrary lag distance limit of 1/4 of the image.

ENVI-70661

The ENVI Help listed major and minor frame offsets as header items, but ENVI did not use them.

ENVI-70670

The Quick Stats text showed Min +/- StdDev instead of Mean +/- StdDev.

ENVI-70674

The ENVISpectralIndexTask routine did not respect input masks.

ENVI-70676

The Image Registration option to Accept as Individual Points was never enabled when entering new point vector layers.

LIDAR-69066

The Correction with Contour tool could not remove phantom peaks from DSMs.

LIDAR-69073

Launching the 3D Viewer from the ENVI LiDAR menu resulted in a Windows application error.

LIDAR-69074

The height legend did not display.

LIDAR-69088

An error was issued while opening an ENVI LiDAR project from within ENVI.

 

 

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