Opticks is a free and open-source remote sensing application and software development framework, initially developed by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. for the United States Intelligence Community. It was released into the open-source community in December 2007 under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) 2.1.
Overview
Opticks supports the processing and visualization of a wide range of remote sensing data types, including standard imagery, video (motion imagery), synthetic aperture radar (SAR), multi-spectral, and hyper-spectral data. A distinguishing feature of Opticks is its ability to process remote sensing video in the same manner as it processes still imagery, setting it apart from many other remote sensing applications.
History
Opticks was originally developed by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in collaboration with other organizations for the United States Intelligence Community. The first release was on May 2, 2001. Ball Aerospace open-sourced the software with the goal of increasing demand for remote sensing data and broadening the features available in existing remote sensing software. The project was brought into the open-source community in December 2007.
Features
Desktop Application
As a standard desktop application, Opticks can read and write imagery in several formats and perform basic data analysis. Installation packages are available for Microsoft Windows (7, Vista, XP, XP x64), Linux, and Solaris 10.
Software Framework
Opticks also functions as a software development framework. It provides a public Software Development Kit (SDK) with a documented Application Programming Interface (API) and several extension tutorials. Developers can extend Opticks' functionality using its plug-in architecture.
Technical Details
- Developer: Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.
- Stable release: 4.10.0 (October 15, 2012)
- Preview release: 4.11.0 rc1 (March 15, 2013)
- Written in: C++, Python
- Operating systems: Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows XP x64, Linux, Solaris 10
- License: GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) 2.1
- Website: http://opticks.org/
Community and Development
Opticks has been developed and extended by over twenty different organizations, with over two hundred registered users. The project has participated in both the Google Summer of Code (GSoC) and the European Space Agency Summer of Code in Space (ESA SOCIS) programs. It applied for incubation with the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo).
Google Summer of Code Participation
- GSoC 2010: Two student projects, including image stack support and SAR speckle removal/edge detection.
- GSoC 2011: Three student projects under the OSGeo organization, covering photography processing tools, ship detection and classification for SAR imagery, and astronomical processing tools.
Planned Enhancements
Future planned enhancements for Opticks included adding the ability to ingest and visualize lidar data, as well as implementing three-dimensional (3-D) visualization capabilities.
