In the "Input file:" white box you should type
in the file name of the imported scanned image or double click on the box. If
you double-click then choose the image off the list by double-click on it.
In the "Output file:" white box type a
name for the georeferenced file, no extension is needed.
In the "Correspondence file:" box type in the
name of the .cor file that you entered the coordinate information.
In the "Reference system:" box choose "spc27ct1"
for CT state plane NAD27 coordinate system for the output image. All data on
MAGIC is in CT state plane NAD27 except for soils data. Therefore it is highly
reccomended that unless you have another reference system in mind you use CT
state plane NAD27.
If you choose CT state plane NAD27 then
"Reference units:" should be set to feet. If you choose a different coordinate
system then your units will correspond to whatever units are used in your
reference system.
The "Mapping function:" you choose depends on
the number of ground control points you have in your .cor file and the amount of
distortion in your photograph. For most simple cases linear should be adequate.
"Resampling type:" determines how the new pixel
values will be written to the output file. For Nearest neighbor, the pixel with
the closest coordinates will be written to the file, with Bilinear an average is
used. If you are working with photographs it is
highly reccomended that you use Nearest neighbor. Bilinear will distort
your image and will change the way your photograph looks.
The next step is very important. You must
input the minimum and maximum X and Y coordinates of the final output
image or map. The implication of this is that any sub-region of the original
image may be extracted. Coordinates must be expressed in the new output
coordinate system. If the final output is an image, you will also need to input
the number of columns and rows that will span that region. You are free to set
any resolution you wish here but bear in mind the original resolution of the
data. In general you should set the number of columns and rows to the number in
the original imported image.
Hit the OK button and a screen should appear
that allows you to calculate the Root Mean Squared (RMS) Error of your
transformation. RMS error gives you an indication of the varability of the
new values around their true values. It is an aggregate measure taken from all
the resampling points you use in the transformation. In general, the lower
the RMS error the closer your output image coordinates will be to the real world
(i.e. the greater the coordinate accuracy of your final product). If a pixel on
your image represents about 10 inches on the ground, then a resample value of 1
means that your average error per pixel is about 10 inches.
The Idrisi help file states:
The RMS for raster images should be less than
one half the resolution of the input image. Generally, it is recommended
that the control point with the highest residual be omitted in order to
reduce the RMS. It is important, however, that the correspondence file
retain control points in all areas within the image.
Therefore you should omit points that have higher
values but it is important to try different combinations of deletions. After you
omit the point you should recalculate RMS error to get an idea of which point ot
omit next. During this process you are striking a balance between retaining
points throughout the photo and lowering the error. The more points you omit the
less stable your equation will be, but the lower your error will be. You must
retain at least the minimum number of points needed for the type of equation you
are using.
Some times it will not be possible to get the
RMS error low enough. We reccomend trying several different point combinations
and produce several output files. You can compare the output files by displaying
them and overlaying some vector coverage like roads or rivers. Then you can
retain the file which has the best accuracy across the area you are interested
in using.
When your RMS error is acceptable then you
should hit the OK button. At the bottom of the main Idrisi screen you will see a
progress bar in the lower left corner. For large files this process could be
quite slow. After the process is done, Idrisi will display the image to show you
how the georeferencing process changed the image. If the new image is too
distorted you should go through this process again but retain more GCPs during
the resample process. Remember that the correction will probably not be the same
across the whole image. The center of your image will probably show a closer
correspondence to real world coordinates than other areas of the photo. If the
area you are interested in is not in the cneter then be sure to put quite a few
GCPs in the your area. If the image looks good to you then you can
export
it to various formats. There are several options for what you can do with this
final product from here.
Last modified: Tuesday, 26-Aug-2008 13:11:23 EDT
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