Radiometric processing levels

Learn about basic, TOA, surface reflectance, and display radiometric processing levels.


Overview

Processing is essential for transforming raw geospatial data into meaningful imagery. Processing levels act as a framework for understanding the level of transformation and manipulation the data has undergone. To select the right data for your use case, it’s important to understand the processing levels offered.

Types of levels

Optical imagery falls into four radiometric processing levels: basic, TOA, surface reflectance, and display.

Basic

Basic imagery is provided without any radiometric processing. The raw pixel values or digital numbers (DN) won’t be radiometrically calibrated but will undergo sensor correction to be consistent and comparable across the image.

Inclusions

Basic imagery is sensor-corrected to minimize sensor-to-sensor variation and sensor defects.

Exclusions

Basic imagery isn't radiometrically calibrated, and won't provide radiance or reflectance values.

Basic imagery provides close-to-raw values that are suited for advanced users to perform preliminary analysis and further processing.

Pléiades, Pléiades Neo, and SPOT basic imagery provides radiometric calibration coefficients to allow users to perform their own radiometric calibration.

TOA

Top-of-atmosphere (TOA) imagery is radiometrically calibrated. The pixel values represent the radiance or reflectance at the height of the sensor which may include atmospheric effects and inconsistent illumination.

Inclusions

TOA imagery is radiometrically calibrated and sensor-corrected.

Exclusions

TOA imagery isn't atmospherically corrected, and will contain atmospheric effects like scattering and absorption.

TOA imagery is more standardized and can be compared with TOA imagery from other sources. It’s suited for most geospatial analysis use cases.

Surface reflectance

Surface reflectance or bottom-of-atmosphere (BOA) imagery is atmospherically corrected. The pixel values represent the reflectance values from the Earth’s surface without systemic effects of the atmosphere and variations in solar illumination.

Inclusions

In addition to being radiometrically calibrated and sensor-corrected, surface reflectance imagery is atmospherically corrected.

Exclusions

Surface reflectance imagery will still contain clouds, pollution, and other atmospheric aerosols.

Surface reflectance imagery can be directly compared with data across different dates and sources. It’s suited for change detection, landcover classification, and vegetative analysis.

Display

Display imagery is color-corrected to provide natural or true colors as seen by the human eye. The pixel values are typically reprojected to 8-bit, which makes them more visually appealing but doesn’t represent meaningful physical values.

Inclusions

In addition to being radiometrically calibrated, sensor and atmospherically corrected, display imagery is color-corrected.

Exclusions

Display imagery can't be converted back to the other radiometric processing levels.

It’s suited for visualization, communication, and image detection algorithms.

Availability

At least one radiometric processing level per collection is always integrated, but the availability of other levels may differ depending on the collection. Some levels are only available upon request.

CollectionBasicTOASurface reflectanceDisplay
AxelGlobeNot supported inline-icon-large

Supported inline-icon-large

Multispectral*

Supported inline-icon-large

Surface Reflectance*

Supported inline-icon-large

True Color*

Beijing-3ANot supported inline-icon-large

Supported inline-icon-large

  1. Level 1
  2. Level 2A
  3. Level 4*
  4. Level 4A*
Not supported inline-icon-largeNot supported inline-icon-large
Beijing-3NNot supported inline-icon-large

Supported inline-icon-large

  1. Level 1
  2. Level 2A
  3. Level 4*
  4. Level 4A*
Not supported inline-icon-largeNot supported inline-icon-large
BlackSkyNot supported inline-icon-largeNot supported inline-icon-largeNot supported inline-icon-large

Supported inline-icon-large

  1. Mono
  2. Stereo (2-frame)
Bluesky AerialNot supported inline-icon-largeNot supported inline-icon-largeNot supported inline-icon-large

Supported inline-icon-large

  1. True Color*
  2. Color Infrared*
  3. Multispectral*
EROS-B

Supported inline-icon-large

Level 0A*

Supported inline-icon-large

  1. Level 1A*
  2. Level 1B*
Not supported inline-icon-largeNot supported inline-icon-large
EROS-C

Supported inline-icon-large

Level 0A*

Supported inline-icon-large

  1. Level 1A*
  2. Level 1B*
Not supported inline-icon-largeNot supported inline-icon-large
GEOSAT 1Not supported inline-icon-large

Supported inline-icon-large

  1. Level 1R*
  2. Level 1T*
Not supported inline-icon-largeNot supported inline-icon-large
GEOSAT 2Not supported inline-icon-large

Supported inline-icon-large

  1. Orthoready*
  2. Ortho*
Not supported inline-icon-largeNot supported inline-icon-large
Getmapping AerialNot supported inline-icon-largeNot supported inline-icon-largeNot supported inline-icon-large

Supported inline-icon-large

  1. CityView*
  2. NationalView*
GHGSatNot supported inline-icon-largeNot supported inline-icon-large Supported inline-icon-large*Not supported inline-icon-large
Globhe OpticalNot supported inline-icon-largeNot supported inline-icon-largeNot supported inline-icon-large Supported inline-icon-large*
GÖKTÜRK-1Not supported inline-icon-large

Supported inline-icon-large

  1. Level 2A*
  2. Level 2B*

Supported inline-icon-large

Level 3A*

Not supported inline-icon-large
Hexagon AerialNot supported inline-icon-largeNot supported inline-icon-largeNot supported inline-icon-largeSupported inline-icon-large
HotSat-1

Supported inline-icon-large

Visual*

Not supported inline-icon-largeNot supported inline-icon-largeNot supported inline-icon-large
KOMPSAT-3Not supported inline-icon-large

Supported inline-icon-large

  1. Level 1R*
  2. Level 1O*
  3. Level 1G*
Not supported inline-icon-largeNot supported inline-icon-large
KOMPSAT-3ANot supported inline-icon-large

Supported inline-icon-large

  1. Level 1R*
  2. Level 1O*
  3. Level 1G*
Not supported inline-icon-largeNot supported inline-icon-large
Landsat 8Not supported inline-icon-largeNot supported inline-icon-large

Supported inline-icon-large

Level 2SP

Not supported inline-icon-large
MaxarNot supported inline-icon-large

Supported inline-icon-large

System-Ready

Supported inline-icon-large

  1. Ortho-Ready
  2. Map-Ready

Supported inline-icon-large

  1. Map-Ready Pansharpened
  2. WorldView Legion HD
Pléiades

Supported inline-icon-large

  1. Basic Primary*
  2. Basic Projected*
  3. Basic Ortho*
Not supported inline-icon-large

Supported inline-icon-large

  1. Reflectance Primary*
  2. Reflectance Projected*
  3. Analytic
  4. Pansharpened Reflectance

Supported inline-icon-large

  1. Display Primary*
  2. Display Projected*
  3. Display
Pléiades Neo

Supported inline-icon-large

  1. Basic Primary*
  2. Basic Projected*
  3. Basic Ortho*
Not supported inline-icon-large

Supported inline-icon-large

  1. Reflectance Primary*
  2. Reflectance Projected*
  3. Analytic
  4. Pansharpened Reflectance

Supported inline-icon-large

  1. Display Primary*
  2. Display Projected*
  3. Display
  4. Pléiades Neo HD15 Ortho
Sentinel-2Not supported inline-icon-largeNot supported inline-icon-large

Supported inline-icon-large

Level 2A

Not supported inline-icon-large
SkySat

Supported inline-icon-large

Pansharpened

Supported inline-icon-large

Analytic

Supported inline-icon-large

Panchromatic

Not supported inline-icon-large
SPOT

Supported inline-icon-large

  1. Basic Primary*
  2. Basic Projected*
  3. Basic Ortho*
Not supported inline-icon-large

Supported inline-icon-large

  1. Reflectance Primary*
  2. Reflectance Projected*
  3. Analytic
  4. Pansharpened Reflectance

Supported inline-icon-large

  1. Display Primary*
  2. Display Projected*
  3. Display
TripleSatNot supported inline-icon-large

Supported inline-icon-large

  1. Level 1
  2. Level 2A
  3. Level 4*
  4. Level 4A*
Not supported inline-icon-largeNot supported inline-icon-large
Vexcel AerialNot supported inline-icon-largeNot supported inline-icon-largeNot supported inline-icon-large

Supported inline-icon-large

  1. Ortho
  2. True Ortho
  3. Obliques and Nadir
Vision-1

Supported inline-icon-large

  1. Basic Projected*
  2. Basic Ortho*
Not supported inline-icon-largeNot supported inline-icon-largeNot supported inline-icon-large

*Upon request.


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