Remote Data Sources Background

ENVI supports the following servers as remote data sources:

OGC Servers

The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) provides a variety of protocol specifications for transmitting geospatial data via the web. ENVI supports these specifications: WCS, WFS, WMS, and WMTS.

OGC servers have several common features:

OGC WCS

Web Coverage Service (WCS) is a protocol for serving raster data that represent properties of geographic locations. WCS servers provide coverages that you can manipulate. The servers list datasets at one level instead of in a folder hierarchy.

ENVI currently supports the following WCS versions: 1.0.0, 1.1.0, 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 2.0.1. ENVI has been tested against the following WCS servers: GeoServer, ArcGIS, MapServer. WCS version 1.0.0 has the broadest and most consistent support among the various servers. With versions 1.1.x and 2.0.1, the servers implemented the specifications with their own particularities. If this causes issues, you have the option to downgrade the WCS version for better results.

OGC WFS

Web Feature Service (WFS) is a protocol for serving geographic vector feature data. ENVI currently supports WFS versions 1.1 and 2.0. ENVI has been tested against the following WFS servers: GeoServer, ArcGIS, MapServer.

You can edit the following WFS properties:

OGC WMS

Web Mapping Service (WMS) is a protocol for serving maps that are generated on-the-fly for display purposes only. ENVI currently supports WMS version 1.3.0. A powerful feature of WMS servers is that you can identify multiple datasets that meet your criteria, and the server combines them into one displayable map layer. WMS servers do not specify a pixel size for a given dataset, so ENVI estimates a default pixel size, width, and height. WMS servers list datasets on the server in a folder hierarchy.

You can edit the following WMS properties:

When you select multiple WMS layers to open, the properties that appear are a subset of the properties available for a single WMS dataset. The multi-WMS properties you can edit are Formats, Spatial Reference System, Number of Columns, and Number of Rows.

Some WMS datasets contain legends to help interpret the data; legends are automatically displayed in the Layer Manager.

OGC WMTS

Web Map Tile Service (WMTS) is a protocol for serving pre-rendered, georeferenced map tiles. As you zoom in or out of a dataset, WMTS loads only the tiles you need for the given spatial extent. ENVI supports WMTS version 1.0.0. ENVI has been tested against the following WMTS servers: GeoServer, ArcGIS, MapServer.

The WMTS properties you can edit are Formats, Spatial Reference System, and Map Style. These are drop-down lists that contain the values provided by the server. Select the value from the drop-down list.

WMTS does not support multispectral images, only RGB datasets with optional alpha channels.

ArcGIS Image Services

When connecting to an ArcGIS Server, you can edit the following properties:

See the ArcGIS Server documentation for more information on image services.

ArcGIS Image Services Connection Keyword

The ArcGIS Image Services token keyword is supported when connecting to an ArcGIS server in the Remote Connection Manager, or when opening an image service in the Open Remote Dataset dialog.

Keyword

Description

token

Tokens are used by ArcGIS servers to authenticate the user. For ENVI versions 5.2.1 and newer, tokens must be generated with the referer ENVI, or else the token will be invalid when passed into ENVI.

Example: http://exampleserver:1234/arcgis/rest/services/folder_name/dataset_name/ImageServer/catalog_ID

JPIP Servers

JPEG 2000 Internet Protocol (JPIP) is a client-server protocol used to serve JPEG 2000 compressed imagery (.jp2, .j2c, and .jpx). The Open Remote Dataset dialog is the only way to connect to a JPIP server in ENVI. If a dataset from a JPIP server contains map information, it is stored in the file header using a GeoJP2A protocol. ENVI will attempt to read and import map information and apply it to the input file whenever possible. Raw JPIP servers cannot display properties for editing.

Jagwire Servers

The Jagwire product, available from NV5 Geospatial Solutions, provides a server that streams imagery and video for display and analysis. You can remotely connect to Jagwire and open raster data that represents properties of geographic locations. Jagwire servers provide coverages that you can manipulate. The servers list datasets at one level instead of in a folder hierarchy. The images open with the native coordinate system and pixel size, and the default interpolation type is used.

You can edit the Formats property if needed.

See Also

Remote Connection Manager, Using the Open Remote Dataset Dialog, ENVI::OpenRaster