Remote Connection Manager

Use the Remote Connection Manager to create and manage remote dataset connections, browse datasets on servers, view dataset properties, and add frequently used connections to a Favorites list. For detailed information on the different services you can connect to and their features and properties, see Remote Data Sources Background.

Select File > Remote Connection Manager from the ENVI menu bar to open the Remote Connection Manager. Or, click Remote Connection Manager in a file selection dialog.

If you previously connected to a server and added it to your Favorites list, you can connect to it by selecting Favorites > dataset_name from the Remote Connection Manager dialog menu bar. Otherwise, to create a new connection to a server or database, use the steps in the sections that follow.

Connect to OGC WCS Servers

To create a new connection to an OGC WCS server:

  1. Click the Connection drop-down list and select Add OGC WCS Server. The Add OGC WCS Server dialog appears.
  2. Enter a URL. An example of the URL format is provided in the dialog. See Connect to OGC Servers.
  3. If the WCS server requires authentication for login, enter the Username and Password. Otherwise, leave those fields blank.
  4. Click OK. The server tree is added to the connection list.
  5. Select the server from the left panel of the Remote Connection Manager. The list of available folders and datasets appears in the center panel.
  6. Navigate to a dataset to select it. The properties for the selected dataset appear in the right panel of the dialog. You can edit properties as needed before opening the dataset, as described in OGC WCS. If ENVI does not support one of the formats under the Supported Formats drop-down list (in the properties list in the dialog's right panel), you cannot open the dataset. You can view all of the dataset properties, but the Open Dataset button is disabled.
  7. ENVI loads the data using the highest WCS version supported by the server. See the Remote Data Sources Background topic for the WCS versions that ENVI currently supports. If needed, you can select a different option from the WCS Version drop-down list.
  8. Select an option from the Server Type drop-down list. The choices are GeoServer, MapServer, and ArcGIS. See the Remote Data Sources Background topic for more information about the server types that are supported with each version of WCS. ENVI tries to automatically detect and set the proper server type when connecting to a WCS dataset.

    9. Note: ENVI uses the Server Type selection in conjunction with the WCS Version selection to apply the server quirk flags as described in the WCS - OGC Web Coverage Service web page; however, note that the server flags may not work correctly with WCS versions 1.1 and 2.01. If features do not display correctly, try choosing a different Server Type and/or WCS Version.

  9. Click Open Dataset to open the dataset in ENVI.
  10. Depending on your display preferences, the dataset may automatically display in the Image window and appear in the Layer Manager. If it does not automatically display, you can drag-and-drop remote dataset layers from the Layer Manager to the Image window or to multiple views.
  11. Click the Refresh button to view any content changes made to the server while you are working in ENVI.

Connect to OGC WFS Servers

To create a new connection to an OGC WFS server:

  1. Click the Connection drop-down list and select Add OGC WFS Server. The Add OGC WFS Server dialog appears.
  2. Enter a URL. An example of the URL format is provided in the dialog. See Connect to OGC Servers.
  3. If the WFS server requires authentication for login, enter the Username and Password. Otherwise, leave those fields blank.
  4. Click OK. The server tree is added to the connection list. The list of available folders and datasets appears in the left panel.
  5. Navigate to a dataset to select it. The properties for the selected dataset appear in the right panel. You can edit properties as needed before opening the dataset, as described in OGC WFS.
  6. ENVI loads the data using the highest WFS version supported by the server. See the Remote Data Sources Background topic for the WFS versions that ENVI currently supports.
  7. Click Open Dataset to open the dataset in ENVI.
  8. Depending on your display preferences, the dataset may automatically display in the Image window and appear in the Layer Manager. If it does not automatically display, you can drag-and-drop remote dataset layers from the Layer Manager to the Image window or to multiple views.
  9. Click the Refresh button to view any content changes made to the server while you are working in ENVI.

Connect to OGC WMS Servers

To create a new connection to an OGC WMS server:

  1. Click the Connection drop-down list and select Connection > Add OGC WMS Server. The Add OGC WMS Server dialog appears.
  2. Enter a URL. An example of the URL format is provided in the dialog. See Connect to OGC Servers.
  3. If the WMS server requires authentication for login, enter the Username and Password. Otherwise, leave those fields blank.
  4. Click OK. The server tree is added to the connection list.
  5. Select the server from the left panel of the Remote Connection Manager. The list of available folders and datasets appears in the center panel.
  6. Navigate to a dataset to select it. The properties for the selected dataset appear in the right panel of the dialog. You can edit properties as needed before opening the dataset, as described in OGC WMS. If ENVI does not support one of the formats under the Supported Formats drop-down list (in the properties list in the dialog's right panel), you cannot open the dataset. You can view all of the dataset properties, but the Open Dataset button is disabled.
  7. To combine multiple datasets on a WMS server and open them as one map layer, select additional datasets from the dataset list. You can select multiple datasets by pressing the Ctrl or Shift key as you select files.
  8. Click Open Dataset to open the dataset in ENVI.
  9. Depending on your display preferences, the dataset may automatically display in the Image window and appear in the Layer Manager. If it does not automatically display, you can drag-and-drop remote dataset layers from the Layer Manager to the Image window or to multiple views.
  10. If the WMS dataset contains a legend, the legend appears in the Layer Manager. You can overlay the legend as an annotation object on the image by right-clicking on the layer name and selecting Load Legend. This is useful, for example, in creating a Powerpoint presentation from the view.
  11. Click the Refresh button to view any content changes made to the server while you are working in ENVI.

Connect to OGC WMTS Servers

To create a new connection to an OGC WMTS server:

  1. Click the Connection drop-down list and select Connection > Add OGC WMTS Server. The Add OGC WMTS Server dialog appears.
  2. Enter a URL. An example of the URL format is provided in the dialog. See Connect to OGC Servers. The service key must be set to WTMS.
  3. If the WMTS server requires authentication for login, enter the Username and Password. Otherwise, leave those fields blank. Authentication is not supported with ArcGIS servers.
  4. Click OK. The server tree is added to the connection list.
  5. Select the server from the left panel of the Remote Connection Manager. The list of available datasets appears in the center panel.
  6. Navigate to a dataset to select it. The properties for the selected dataset appear in the right panel of the dialog. You can edit properties as needed before opening the dataset, as described in OGC WMTS. If ENVI does not support one of the formats under the Supported Formats drop-down list (in the properties list in the dialog's right panel), you cannot open the dataset. You can view all of the dataset properties, but the Open Dataset button is disabled.
  7. To combine multiple datasets on a WMTS server and open them as one map layer, select additional datasets from the dataset list, one at a time. You cannot select multiple datasets at once using the Ctrl or Shift key.
  8. Click Open Dataset to open the dataset in ENVI.
  9. Depending on your display preferences, the dataset may automatically display in the Image window and appear in the Layer Manager. If it does not automatically display, you can drag-and-drop remote dataset layers from the Layer Manager to the Image window or to multiple views.
  10. Click the Refresh button to view any content changes made to the server while you are working in ENVI.

Connect to ArcGIS Image Services

To create a new connection to an ArcGIS image service:

  1. Click the Connection drop-down list and select Add ArcGIS Image Services Server. The Add ArcGIS Image Services Server dialog appears.
  2. Enter a URL. An example of the URL format is provided in the dialog.
  3. If the ArcGIS image service requires authentication for login, enter the Username and Password. Otherwise, leave those fields blank. ArcGIS servers accept tokens (?token=characters) in the URL for authentication. This includes image services that require an ArcGIS portal account or ArcGIS online account. Image service catalog items are also supported.
  4. Click OK. The server tree is added to the connection list.
  5. Select the server from the left panel of the Remote Connection Manager. The list of available folders and datasets appears in the center panel.
  6. Navigate to a dataset to select it. The properties for the selected dataset appear in the right panel of the dialog. You can edit properties as needed before opening the dataset, as described in ArcGIS Image Services.
  7. Click Open Dataset to open the dataset in ENVI.
  8. Depending on your display preferences, the dataset may automatically display in the Image window and appear in the Layer Manager. If it does not automatically display, you can drag-and-drop remote dataset layers from the Layer Manager to the Image window or to multiple views.
  9. Click the Refresh button to view any content changes made to the server while you are working in ENVI.

Connect to Jagwire Servers

To create a new connection to a Jagwire server:

  1. Click the Connection drop-down list and select Add Jagwire Server. The Add Jagwire Server dialog appears.
  2. Enter a URL. An example of the URL format is provided in the dialog.
  3. If the Jagwire server requires authentication for login, enter the Username and Password. Otherwise, leave those fields blank.
  4. Click OK. The server tree is added to the connection list.
  5. Select the server from the left panel of the Remote Connection Manager. The list of available folders and datasets appears in the center panel.
  6. Navigate to a dataset to select it. The properties for the selected dataset appear in the right panel of the dialog. You can optionally edit the Formats property.
  7. You can query Jagwire datasets by collection date/time, geographic extent, or both:
    • Click the Query tab.
    • Specify the range of collection dates using the drop-down lists or time slider controls for After and Before. It is not required to specify both date parameters.
    • You can further refine your query by specifying optional After and Before time values.
    • Specify the geographic location of datasets you wish to view by selecting Extent. Extent values can be manually entered, or selected from a raster dataset, from the extent of the current view, or from a bounding box drawn in the view. In all cases, the extent coordinates must be Latitude/Longitude decimal degrees.
    • Click Run Query to execute the search based on the parameters provided. Datasets meeting the provided criteria are listed in the right panel.
  8. Click Open Dataset to open the dataset in ENVI.
  9. Depending on your display preferences, the dataset may automatically display in the Image window and appear in the Layer Manager. If it does not automatically display, you can drag-and-drop remote dataset layers from the Layer Manager to the Image window or to multiple views.
  10. Click the Refresh button to view any content changes made to the server while you are working in ENVI.

Add and Manage Favorites

You can add commonly used connections to a list of favorites, so that you can easily open those connections in the future. For connections that require a password, the Favorites option will be disabled.

  1. In the Remote Connection Manager, click the Add to Favorites icon. The Add to Favorites dialog appears.
  2. Enter a custom Name for the connection to help you recognize it in the Favorites List.
  3. If one or more folders exist in the Favorites List, select the folder into which to add the new favorite.
  4. Click OK. The name is added to the Favorites List in the Remote Connection Manager Favorites menu.

You can manage your Favorites List by creating folders in which to group favorites, by reordering favorites, and by deleting or renaming favorites. To manage favorites, select Favorites > Manage to open the Favorites Manager dialog.

When you are finished working with the Favorites Manager dialog, click OK to close the dialog. To access a favorite connection, click Favorites and select the connection name.

See Also

Using the Open Remote Dataset Dialog, Remote Data Sources Background, ENVI::OpenRaster