Geographic information -- Imagery and gridded data

Information géographique -- Imagerie et données quadrillées

Geografske informacije - Podobe in gridni podatki

General Information

Status
Published
Publication Date
31-Oct-2003
Technical Committee
Current Stage
6060 - National Implementation/Publication (Adopted Project)
Start Date
01-Nov-2003
Due Date
01-Nov-2003
Completion Date
01-Nov-2003

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TECHNICAL ISO/TR
REPORT 19121
First edition
2000-10-15
Geographic information — Imagery
and gridded data
Information géographique — Imagerie et données quadrillées
Reference number
ISO/TR 19121:2000(E)
©
ISO 2000

---------------------- Page: 1 ----------------------
ISO/TR 19121:2000(E)
PDF disclaimer
This PDF file may contain embedded typefaces. In accordance with Adobe's licensing policy, this file may be printed or viewed but shall not
be edited unless the typefaces which are embedded are licensed to and installed on the computer performing the editing. In downloading this
file, parties accept therein the responsibility of not infringing Adobe's licensing policy. The ISO Central Secretariat accepts no liability in this
area.
Adobe is a trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated.
Details of the software products used to create this PDF file can be found in the General Info relative to the file; the PDF-creation parameters
were optimized for printing. Every care has been taken to ensure that the file is suitable for use by ISO member bodies. In the unlikely event
that a problem relating to it is found, please inform the Central Secretariat at the address given below.
© ISO 2000
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic
or mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from either ISO at the address below or ISO's member body
in the country of the requester.
ISO copyright office
Case postale 56 � CH-1211 Geneva 20
Tel. + 41 22 749 01 11
Fax + 41 22 749 09 47
E-mail copyright@iso.ch
Web www.iso.ch
Printed in Switzerland
ii © ISO 2000 – All rights reserved

---------------------- Page: 2 ----------------------
ISO/TR 19121:2000(E)
Contents Page
Foreword.iv
Introduction.v
1 Scope .1
2 References.1
3 Review of existing standards .2
3.1 The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) .2
3.1.1 ISO/IEC JTC 1 – Information technology standards .2
3.1.2 ISO/TC 130 – Graphic technology.5
3.2 DIGEST (DIgital Geographic Exchange STandard) .6
3.3 Spatial Data Transfer Standard: Part 5: Raster Profile .7
3.4 IHO S-57 - International Hydrographic Organization – Transfer Standard for Digital
Hydrographic Data.8
3.5 CEOS – Committee on Earth Observation Satellites .9
3.5.1 CEOS Superstructure.9
3.5.2 CEOS Superstructure and the Catalogue Interoperability Protocol (CIP) .9
3.5.3 Overview of CIP Architecture .10
3.5.4 CIP Features.10
3.6 EOSDIS/HDF.10
3.6.1 Conceptual Data Models.11
3.6.2 Hierarchical Data Format (HDF) .11
3.6.3 HDF-EOS – The HDF Implementation of the EOSDIS Conceptual Models .12
3.7 International Telegraphic Union – Telecommunications ITU-T SG VIII - T.4 and T.6.12
3.8 Open GIS Consortium (OGC) - Coverages.12
3.9 Private formats.13
3.9.1 Fractal Transform Coding.13
3.9.2 The Graphic Interchange Format (GIF).13
3.9.3 Photo Compact Disk.13
3.9.4 Portable Network Graphics (PNG) .13
3.9.5 Tag Image File Format (TIFF).13
3.9.6 GeoTIFF .13
3.10 Mapping of existing imagery and gridded data standards to geographic information standards .14
4 Components of image and gridded data.16
4.1 Picture elements of cells.16
4.2 Metadata .17
4.3 Spatial registration .17
4.4 Encapsulation and coding .18
5 Interaction with other standards.18
5.1 Subcomponents.18
5.2 Profiles.19
5.3 Alignment with overlapping standards .19
6 Plan to address imagery and gridded data in ISO/TC 211 work items.20
6.1 Impact on existing work items .20
6.2 New work required.22
Annex A (informative) Cell organization .23
Annex B (informative) Metadata.25
Annex C (informative) New areas of work supporting imagery and gridded data .29
Annex D (informative) Acronyms.31
Bibliography.34
© ISO 2000 – All rights reserved iii

---------------------- Page: 3 ----------------------
ISO/TR 19121:2000(E)
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies (ISO
member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out through ISO technical
committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical committee has been established has
the right to be represented on that committee. International organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in
liaison with ISO, also take part in the work. ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical
Commission (IEC) on all matters of electrotechnical standardization.
International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 3.
The main task of technical committees is to prepare International Standards. Draft International Standards adopted
by the technical committees are circulated to the member bodies for voting. Publication as an International
Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the member bodies casting a vote.
In exceptional circumstances, when a technical committee has collected data of a different kind from that which is
normally published as an International Standard ("state of the art", for example), it may decide by a simple majority
vote of its participating members to publish a Technical Report. A Technical Report is entirely informative in nature
and does not have to be reviewed until the data it provides are considered to be no longer valid or useful.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of ISO/TR 19121 may be the subject of patent rights.
ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
ISO/TR 19121, was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 211, Geographic information/Geomatics,in
collaboration with:
� Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS)
� Digital Geographic Information Working Group (DGIWG)
� International Hydrographic Organization (IHO)
� Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC)
� ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 24
iv © ISO 2000 – All rights reserved

---------------------- Page: 4 ----------------------
ISO/TR 19121:2000(E)
Introduction
This Technical Report is intended to identify the manner by which ISO/TC 211 should handle imagery and gridded
data in the context of its standards.
A natural image is a radiometric representation of the real world, as seen by an optical or other sensor. A synthetic
image is a generated depiction of spatial data in a visual form. Both natural and synthetic image data are being
used increasingly in the area of geographic information/geomatics. Gridded data is the representation of attribute
values in terms of a spatial grid. All three of these forms of spatial information can be handled in a similar manner
by representation in terms of a raster or matrix structure. Both a raster and a matrix are array structures that may
be coded somewhat differently due to the characteristics of the data.
An increasingly large volume of natural and synthetic image and gridded data is being produced. For example,
current imaging satellites include LandSAT, RADARSAT, SPOT, ERS, MOS, JERS and NOAA. Also, there are
military satellite images and other public and private domain image sources. There are current plans to launch
more than one hundred Earth observing satellites by the year 2005, with 60 of those scheduled for launch by the
end of 1999, with some of these satellites generating as many as 22 000 scenes per day. Digital orthophoto
mapping is another field in which major financial investment is being made and in which a large volume of raster
data is being produced. Obviously, there will be great demand for this imagery to be in a standard format in order to
be useful with other sources of data.
Large volumes of synthetic imagery are being produced by the scanning of the current large inventory of paper
maps and charts, and it is expected that the volume of this data will exceed the production of vector based data
sets for a long time. Synthetic raster maps include scanned paper map products, such as topographic maps,
nautical charts, soil and vegetation maps and other such products. They also include raster data sets generated
directly from vector data sets. Since the demand for image and gridded data is large and will be rapidly increasing
in the near future, it is necessary to address this form of data in ISO/TC 211. Many countries and international
organizations are producing Digital Elevation Models (DEMs). Many other forms of gridded data such as
georeferenced socio-economic data including land use data, meteorological and bathymetric data are being
compiled in large volumes.
Earth observation networks and information infrastructures are being developed in many countries to further
improve the access and use of remote sensing data, products and services, with the objective to provide state-of-
the-art interfaces between the data archives and their users. The interoperability between data archives — an
important element of which is interoperable standards — will greatly facilitate a more effective operation by
government bodies and the value-added sector.
The specific aim of this work item is to analyse the characteristics of imagery and gridded data and make
recommendations with respect to how this data can be handled in ISO/TC 211. There is a significant overlap
between many of the current ISO/TC 211 work items and those areas that require standardization to support
imagery and gridded data. For example, it is possible to share many metadata elements between vector and raster
representations, but some unique metadata will be required to handle particular raster related aspects.
The main interests that will benefit from the standardization of raster and matrix data formats will be the distributors
and end-users of raster data. Currently, each satellite effectively defines its own "standard" based on the
characteristics of its sensors. There also exists a large number of "standard" formats for the exchange and
distribution of synthetic raster data such as scanned paper maps. Integration of data is difficult at best.
Although there are some aspects of sensor characteristics that are unique to particular data sources, there is a high
degree of commonality underlying the basic parameters. In addition, many of the aspects of the existing
ISO/TC 211 work on vector standards, such as geographic referencing, quality, metadata, positioning services, and
portrayal are applicable to raster and matrix data.
© ISO 2000 – All rights reserved v

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TECHNICAL REPORT ISO/TR 19121:2000(E)
Geographic information — Imagery and gridded data
1 Scope
This Technical Report reviews the manner in which raster and gridded data is currently being handled in the
Geomatics community in order to propose how this type of data should be supported by geographic information
standards.
This Technical Report identifies those aspects of imagery and gridded data that have been standardized or are
being standardized in other ISO committees and external standards organizations, and that influence or support
the establishment of raster and gridded data standards for geographic information. It also describes the
components of those identified ISO and external imagery and gridded data standards that can be harmonized with
the ISO 19100 series of geographic information/geomatics standards.
A plan is presented for ISO/TC 211 to address imagery and gridded data in an integrated manner, within the
ISO 19100 series of geographic information standards.
2 References
1)
ISO 19101:— , Geographic information — Reference model.
1)
ISO 19102:— , Geographic information — Overview.
1)
ISO/TS 19103:— , Geographic information — Conceptual schema language.
1)
ISO 19104:— , Geographic information — Terminology.
1)
ISO 19105:— , Geographic information — Conformance and testing.
1)
ISO 19106:— , Geographic information — Profiles.
1)
ISO 19107:— , Geographic information — Spatial schema.
1)
ISO 19108:— , Geographic information — Temporal schema.
1)
ISO 19109:— , Geographic information — Rules for application schema.
1)
ISO 19110:— , Geographic information — Feature cataloguing methodology.
1)
ISO 19111:— , Geographic information — Spatial referencing by coordinates.
1)
ISO 19112:— , Geographic information — Spatial referencing by geographic identifiers.
1)
ISO 19113:— , Geographic information — Quality principles.
1) To be published.
© ISO 2000 – All rights reserved 1

---------------------- Page: 6 ----------------------
ISO/TR 19121:2000(E)
1)
ISO 19114:— , Geographic information — Quality evaluation procedures.
1)
ISO 19115:— , Geographic information — Metadata.
1)
ISO 19116:— , Geographic information — Positioning services.
1)
ISO 19117:— , Geographic information — Portrayal.
1)
ISO 19118:— , Geographic information — Encoding.
1)
ISO 19119:— , Geographic information — Services.
1)
ISO/TR 19120:— , Geographic information — Functional standards.
3 Review of existing standards
Currently there exist several other efforts at standardizing aspects of imagery and gridded data in different related
fields or application areas. For example the DIGEST Functional Standard addresses raster and matrix data. The
IHO is currently beginning work on handling synthetic scanned charts as raster data. Of particular importance is the
work ongoing in ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 24 on Computer Graphics and Image Processing. ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 24 has
published the Basic Image Interchange Format (BIIF) which provides a standard image interchange format for a
wide variety of imagery applications, including medical imaging and other non-geospatial applications. There has
been extensive work done by DGIWG to harmonize the DIGEST standard with the work of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 24.
Annex D of DIGEST is an encapsulation of DIGEST in terms of BIIF components. Also there is compatibility with
the NATO Secondary Imagery Format (NSIF). It is urgent that the formal study of raster and matrix standards
begins in ISO/TC 211 to ensure alignment between the suite of ISO base standards and these external standards.
Parallel efforts are also underway in JTC 1/SC 32/WG 4 SQL/MM to create supporting data types and operators to
manage, query, and disseminate image data. The Open GIS Consortium has recently released an RFP study
document on "Coverages" that is of importance for imagery and gridded data.
The following subsections present the status of each of the external standards efforts related to imagery and
gridded data. Primarily international and public domain or open standards developments are addressed. Sub-
section 3.9 also lists some of the more important industrial or private developments.
3.1 The International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
The International Organization for Standardization is the principal world standardization organization. It establishes
international standards in a broad range of disciplines. In addition to the work in ISO/TC 211 there are several
committees within ISO that are of interest with respect to the standardization of raster data.
3.1.1 ISO/IEC JTC 1 — Information technology standards
The International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Committee Joint Technical
Committee 1 is responsible for the standardization of information technology. Several of its subcommittees are of
particular importance to the study of raster data.
� ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 24 — The subcommittee of JTC 1 which deals with computer graphics and image
processing.
� ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29 — JTC 1 subcommittee responsible for the coded representation of audio, picture,
multimedia and hypermedia information.
� ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 32/WG 3 — JTC 1 subcommittee responsible for data base languages.
2 © ISO 2000 – All rights reserved

---------------------- Page: 7 ----------------------
ISO/TR 19121:2000(E)
3.1.1.1 ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 24 — Computer Graphics and Image Processing
This JTC 1 subcommittee is responsible for computer graphics and image processing standards and has
developed the Image Processing and Interchange, Image Interchange Facility (IPI-IIF). This standard suite
provides a framework in which to handle all types of imagery. The standard is being developed in ISO as part of the
work on image processing and it is intentionally broad enough to handle very diverse types of imagery, including
medical X-rays and images, photographs, satellite and other sensor data, and scanned maps. It is expected that
details of the metadata and other adaptations of the basic standard will be developed in different application
domains, such as mapping. ISO/IEC 12087; IPI-IIF is a broad multi-part standard with a separate encoding
standard, ISO/IEC 12089. The standard provides a platform-independent set of image data types, an Application
Programming Interface (API), and an exchange format (IPI-IIF). The underlying encoding is ISO 8824 ASN.1.
The ISO/IEC 12087 IPI-IIF standard contains the following parts:
� Part 1: Common architecture for imaging
� Part 2: Programmer’s imaging kernel system application programme interface.
� Part 3: Image Interchange Facility (IPI-IIF)
Another part of the IPI-IIF standard is ISO/IEC 12087-5: Basic Image Interchange Format (BIIF). Development of
this standard was based on the collaboration of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 24, NATO Air Group IV, Digital Geospatial
Information Working Group (DGIWG), and the US Department of Defense. The US National Imagery Transmission
Format Standards (NITFS) was used as a base document for BIIF. There has been a US Government activity to
harmonize the NITFS with the US Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS).
This published international standard will make use of International Standardized Profiles to define and organize
domain applications of the standard. The US National Imagery Transmission Format (NITF) and the NATO
Secondary Imagery Format will be handled as a profile of BIIF. Commercial applications of NITF include ERDAS
IMAGINE, ARC-INFO, and a Northrup package.
The BIIF standard provides a detailed description of the overall structure of the format, as well as specification of
the format and data domain for all fields defined within BIIF. As part of the ISO/IEC 12087 family of image
processing and interchange standards, BIIF conforms to the architectural and data object specifications of
ISO/IEC 12087-1, the Common architecture for imaging. BIIF supports a profiling scheme that is a combination of
the approaches taken for ISO/IEC 12087-2 Programmer's Imaging Kernel System (PIKS), ISO/IEC 10918 Joint
Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), ISO/IEC 8632 Computer Graphic Metafile (CGM), and ISO/IEC 9973 the
Procedures and Registration of Graphical Items. Geospatial referencing for the interNational Standard Imagery
Format ISP is by way of mandatory inclusion of the geospatial support data extensions defined in Annex D of the
DIGEST.
In BIIF, a translation process enables data interchange between disparate systems. Using BIIF, each system must
be compliant with only one external format that will be used for communication with all other participating systems.
When BIIF is not used as a system's native internal format, each system will translate between the system's
internal representation for imagery and the BIIF format. A system from which data is to be transferred has a
translation module that accepts information structured according to the system's internal representation for images
and related imagery data, and assembles this information in BIIF format. The approach provides the proven
capability to implement general purpose BIIF readers (applications) that can present the basic imagery and
annotations of any BIIF compliant product file created within the constraints of a given profile of BIIF. Although
more robust approaches exist to allow self-defining data structures, these approaches significantly increase the
complexity for implementing general-purpose readers (applications) capable of meaningfully interpreting file
constructs created by a wide variety of diversely developed generators. More simplistic imagery file formats also
exist. These formats are often focused at just portraying a simple digital image and are often too limited in feature
sets to meet the needs of somewhat more sophisticated, but still basic imagery applications. BIIF provides a basic
capability that bridges the gap between simplistic digital image formats and the extremely sophisticated, self-
defining, but potentially complex format. As such, BIIF has some inherent bounds and limitations, but remains as a
very capable basic imagery format that satisfies a broad range of imagery applications.
© ISO 2000 – All rights reserved 3

---------------------- Page: 8 ----------------------
ISO/TR 19121:2000(E)
3.1.1.2 ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29 — Coding of Audio, Picture, Multimedia and Hypermedia Information
ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29 supports a broad range of standards for the exchange of picture and multimedia data. This
committee consists of a number of expert groups. The relevant standards are known informally after the names of
the groups that developed them.
� WG 1, the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) for continuous tone pictures, and the Joint Binary Images
Group (JBIG) for bi-level, rasterized, images
� WG 11 the Moving Pictures Experts Group (MPEG)
� WG 12 the Multimedia/Hypermedia Information Coding Experts Group (MHEG)
ISO/IEC 11544, Coded representation of picture and audio information — Progressive bi-level image compression
(JBIG), is a standard sponsored jointly by the UN based International Telegraphic Union (ITU) and ISO. It provides
an efficient lossless compression method for coding two tone, black/white images. The standard supports generic
coding techniques for data compression and decompression for bi-level images and for limited bits-per-pixel
images such as those with a limited number of grey or colour values. The scope of this work includes techniques
for progressive image build-up, from low resolution to higher resolution, and techniques for image resolution
reduction.
ISO/IEC 10918, Digital compression and coding of continuous-tone still images (JPEG), is sponsored jointly by the
ITU and ISO, and is used for continuous-tone (photographic) images. Both lossy transform algorithms and lossless
predictive algorithms are available with the lossy form of the standard being very efficient at up to 35:1
compression. JPEG makes use of continuous-tone digital images much more economical by drastically reducing
the volume required for storage and the bandwidth required for transmission. JPEG helps enable interchange of
images between different vendors, within applications, and between different applications, by providing a common
coded representation of compressed image data. ISO/IEC 13818 MPEG-2, Generic coding of moving pictures and
associated audio information, provides a unified coded representation of audio-visual information that supports
multiple application requirements while maximising interworking. It makes use of a profile/level approach. The
broad acceptance of this standard in industry enables the gradual replacement of the existing costly analogue
equipment and stimulates the interworking of hitherto separate multimedia applications.
ISO/IEC 13522, Coding of multimedia and hypermedia information (MHEG), will provide the coded representation
of final form multimedia and hypermedia information objects, to be interchanged within or across open applications
and services, by any means of interchange. The objective of this standard is to ease the development of
multimedia applications in open environments by ensuring the cross platform compatibility of elementary units of
information called multimedia and hypermedia objects (MHEG Objects). In the present context, generic techniques
(such as compression techniques) and object-oriented techniques (as used in MHEG) are gaining prominence in
various areas that used to live separately, such as telecommunications, computer industry, television, and
consumer electronics. In many respects, the MHEG technology proves to be at the crossing point of these sectors.
The ability to provide an interchange format for digital media such as image, audio, text, graphics; the ability to
interchange information objects between systems; and the ability to re-use this information in further applications,
are features of paramount importance in many services such as office information systems and engineering
documentation; training and education; electronic publishing; computer supported cooperative work; and on-line
multimedia information broadcasting for navigation support in a digital television system.
The two SC 29 standards of particular relevance for raster data in ISO/TC 211 are the standards known informally
as JBIG and JPEG. The MPEG and MH
...

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
SIST-TP ISO/TR 19121:2003
01-november-2003
Geografske informacije - Podobe in gridni podatki
Geographic information -- Imagery and gridded data
Information géographique -- Imagerie et données quadrillées
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: ISO/TR 19121:2000
ICS:
07.040 Astronomija. Geodezija. Astronomy. Geodesy.
Geografija Geography
35.240.70 Uporabniške rešitve IT v IT applications in science
znanosti
SIST-TP ISO/TR 19121:2003 en
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

---------------------- Page: 1 ----------------------

SIST-TP ISO/TR 19121:2003

---------------------- Page: 2 ----------------------

SIST-TP ISO/TR 19121:2003
TECHNICAL ISO/TR
REPORT 19121
First edition
2000-10-15
Geographic information — Imagery
and gridded data
Information géographique — Imagerie et données quadrillées
Reference number
ISO/TR 19121:2000(E)
©
ISO 2000

---------------------- Page: 3 ----------------------

SIST-TP ISO/TR 19121:2003
ISO/TR 19121:2000(E)
PDF disclaimer
This PDF file may contain embedded typefaces. In accordance with Adobe's licensing policy, this file may be printed or viewed but shall not
be edited unless the typefaces which are embedded are licensed to and installed on the computer performing the editing. In downloading this
file, parties accept therein the responsibility of not infringing Adobe's licensing policy. The ISO Central Secretariat accepts no liability in this
area.
Adobe is a trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated.
Details of the software products used to create this PDF file can be found in the General Info relative to the file; the PDF-creation parameters
were optimized for printing. Every care has been taken to ensure that the file is suitable for use by ISO member bodies. In the unlikely event
that a problem relating to it is found, please inform the Central Secretariat at the address given below.
© ISO 2000
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic
or mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from either ISO at the address below or ISO's member body
in the country of the requester.
ISO copyright office
Case postale 56 � CH-1211 Geneva 20
Tel. + 41 22 749 01 11
Fax + 41 22 749 09 47
E-mail copyright@iso.ch
Web www.iso.ch
Printed in Switzerland
ii © ISO 2000 – All rights reserved

---------------------- Page: 4 ----------------------

SIST-TP ISO/TR 19121:2003
ISO/TR 19121:2000(E)
Contents Page
Foreword.iv
Introduction.v
1 Scope .1
2 References.1
3 Review of existing standards .2
3.1 The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) .2
3.1.1 ISO/IEC JTC 1 – Information technology standards .2
3.1.2 ISO/TC 130 – Graphic technology.5
3.2 DIGEST (DIgital Geographic Exchange STandard) .6
3.3 Spatial Data Transfer Standard: Part 5: Raster Profile .7
3.4 IHO S-57 - International Hydrographic Organization – Transfer Standard for Digital
Hydrographic Data.8
3.5 CEOS – Committee on Earth Observation Satellites .9
3.5.1 CEOS Superstructure.9
3.5.2 CEOS Superstructure and the Catalogue Interoperability Protocol (CIP) .9
3.5.3 Overview of CIP Architecture .10
3.5.4 CIP Features.10
3.6 EOSDIS/HDF.10
3.6.1 Conceptual Data Models.11
3.6.2 Hierarchical Data Format (HDF) .11
3.6.3 HDF-EOS – The HDF Implementation of the EOSDIS Conceptual Models .12
3.7 International Telegraphic Union – Telecommunications ITU-T SG VIII - T.4 and T.6.12
3.8 Open GIS Consortium (OGC) - Coverages.12
3.9 Private formats.13
3.9.1 Fractal Transform Coding.13
3.9.2 The Graphic Interchange Format (GIF).13
3.9.3 Photo Compact Disk.13
3.9.4 Portable Network Graphics (PNG) .13
3.9.5 Tag Image File Format (TIFF).13
3.9.6 GeoTIFF .13
3.10 Mapping of existing imagery and gridded data standards to geographic information standards .14
4 Components of image and gridded data.16
4.1 Picture elements of cells.16
4.2 Metadata .17
4.3 Spatial registration .17
4.4 Encapsulation and coding .18
5 Interaction with other standards.18
5.1 Subcomponents.18
5.2 Profiles.19
5.3 Alignment with overlapping standards .19
6 Plan to address imagery and gridded data in ISO/TC 211 work items.20
6.1 Impact on existing work items .20
6.2 New work required.22
Annex A (informative) Cell organization .23
Annex B (informative) Metadata.25
Annex C (informative) New areas of work supporting imagery and gridded data .29
Annex D (informative) Acronyms.31
Bibliography.34
© ISO 2000 – All rights reserved iii

---------------------- Page: 5 ----------------------

SIST-TP ISO/TR 19121:2003
ISO/TR 19121:2000(E)
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies (ISO
member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out through ISO technical
committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical committee has been established has
the right to be represented on that committee. International organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in
liaison with ISO, also take part in the work. ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical
Commission (IEC) on all matters of electrotechnical standardization.
International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 3.
The main task of technical committees is to prepare International Standards. Draft International Standards adopted
by the technical committees are circulated to the member bodies for voting. Publication as an International
Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the member bodies casting a vote.
In exceptional circumstances, when a technical committee has collected data of a different kind from that which is
normally published as an International Standard ("state of the art", for example), it may decide by a simple majority
vote of its participating members to publish a Technical Report. A Technical Report is entirely informative in nature
and does not have to be reviewed until the data it provides are considered to be no longer valid or useful.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of ISO/TR 19121 may be the subject of patent rights.
ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
ISO/TR 19121, was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 211, Geographic information/Geomatics,in
collaboration with:
� Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS)
� Digital Geographic Information Working Group (DGIWG)
� International Hydrographic Organization (IHO)
� Open GIS Consortium, Inc. (OGC)
� ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 24
iv © ISO 2000 – All rights reserved

---------------------- Page: 6 ----------------------

SIST-TP ISO/TR 19121:2003
ISO/TR 19121:2000(E)
Introduction
This Technical Report is intended to identify the manner by which ISO/TC 211 should handle imagery and gridded
data in the context of its standards.
A natural image is a radiometric representation of the real world, as seen by an optical or other sensor. A synthetic
image is a generated depiction of spatial data in a visual form. Both natural and synthetic image data are being
used increasingly in the area of geographic information/geomatics. Gridded data is the representation of attribute
values in terms of a spatial grid. All three of these forms of spatial information can be handled in a similar manner
by representation in terms of a raster or matrix structure. Both a raster and a matrix are array structures that may
be coded somewhat differently due to the characteristics of the data.
An increasingly large volume of natural and synthetic image and gridded data is being produced. For example,
current imaging satellites include LandSAT, RADARSAT, SPOT, ERS, MOS, JERS and NOAA. Also, there are
military satellite images and other public and private domain image sources. There are current plans to launch
more than one hundred Earth observing satellites by the year 2005, with 60 of those scheduled for launch by the
end of 1999, with some of these satellites generating as many as 22 000 scenes per day. Digital orthophoto
mapping is another field in which major financial investment is being made and in which a large volume of raster
data is being produced. Obviously, there will be great demand for this imagery to be in a standard format in order to
be useful with other sources of data.
Large volumes of synthetic imagery are being produced by the scanning of the current large inventory of paper
maps and charts, and it is expected that the volume of this data will exceed the production of vector based data
sets for a long time. Synthetic raster maps include scanned paper map products, such as topographic maps,
nautical charts, soil and vegetation maps and other such products. They also include raster data sets generated
directly from vector data sets. Since the demand for image and gridded data is large and will be rapidly increasing
in the near future, it is necessary to address this form of data in ISO/TC 211. Many countries and international
organizations are producing Digital Elevation Models (DEMs). Many other forms of gridded data such as
georeferenced socio-economic data including land use data, meteorological and bathymetric data are being
compiled in large volumes.
Earth observation networks and information infrastructures are being developed in many countries to further
improve the access and use of remote sensing data, products and services, with the objective to provide state-of-
the-art interfaces between the data archives and their users. The interoperability between data archives — an
important element of which is interoperable standards — will greatly facilitate a more effective operation by
government bodies and the value-added sector.
The specific aim of this work item is to analyse the characteristics of imagery and gridded data and make
recommendations with respect to how this data can be handled in ISO/TC 211. There is a significant overlap
between many of the current ISO/TC 211 work items and those areas that require standardization to support
imagery and gridded data. For example, it is possible to share many metadata elements between vector and raster
representations, but some unique metadata will be required to handle particular raster related aspects.
The main interests that will benefit from the standardization of raster and matrix data formats will be the distributors
and end-users of raster data. Currently, each satellite effectively defines its own "standard" based on the
characteristics of its sensors. There also exists a large number of "standard" formats for the exchange and
distribution of synthetic raster data such as scanned paper maps. Integration of data is difficult at best.
Although there are some aspects of sensor characteristics that are unique to particular data sources, there is a high
degree of commonality underlying the basic parameters. In addition, many of the aspects of the existing
ISO/TC 211 work on vector standards, such as geographic referencing, quality, metadata, positioning services, and
portrayal are applicable to raster and matrix data.
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SIST-TP ISO/TR 19121:2003
TECHNICAL REPORT ISO/TR 19121:2000(E)
Geographic information — Imagery and gridded data
1 Scope
This Technical Report reviews the manner in which raster and gridded data is currently being handled in the
Geomatics community in order to propose how this type of data should be supported by geographic information
standards.
This Technical Report identifies those aspects of imagery and gridded data that have been standardized or are
being standardized in other ISO committees and external standards organizations, and that influence or support
the establishment of raster and gridded data standards for geographic information. It also describes the
components of those identified ISO and external imagery and gridded data standards that can be harmonized with
the ISO 19100 series of geographic information/geomatics standards.
A plan is presented for ISO/TC 211 to address imagery and gridded data in an integrated manner, within the
ISO 19100 series of geographic information standards.
2 References
1)
ISO 19101:— , Geographic information — Reference model.
1)
ISO 19102:— , Geographic information — Overview.
1)
ISO/TS 19103:— , Geographic information — Conceptual schema language.
1)
ISO 19104:— , Geographic information — Terminology.
1)
ISO 19105:— , Geographic information — Conformance and testing.
1)
ISO 19106:— , Geographic information — Profiles.
1)
ISO 19107:— , Geographic information — Spatial schema.
1)
ISO 19108:— , Geographic information — Temporal schema.
1)
ISO 19109:— , Geographic information — Rules for application schema.
1)
ISO 19110:— , Geographic information — Feature cataloguing methodology.
1)
ISO 19111:— , Geographic information — Spatial referencing by coordinates.
1)
ISO 19112:— , Geographic information — Spatial referencing by geographic identifiers.
1)
ISO 19113:— , Geographic information — Quality principles.
1) To be published.
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ISO/TR 19121:2000(E)
1)
ISO 19114:— , Geographic information — Quality evaluation procedures.
1)
ISO 19115:— , Geographic information — Metadata.
1)
ISO 19116:— , Geographic information — Positioning services.
1)
ISO 19117:— , Geographic information — Portrayal.
1)
ISO 19118:— , Geographic information — Encoding.
1)
ISO 19119:— , Geographic information — Services.
1)
ISO/TR 19120:— , Geographic information — Functional standards.
3 Review of existing standards
Currently there exist several other efforts at standardizing aspects of imagery and gridded data in different related
fields or application areas. For example the DIGEST Functional Standard addresses raster and matrix data. The
IHO is currently beginning work on handling synthetic scanned charts as raster data. Of particular importance is the
work ongoing in ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 24 on Computer Graphics and Image Processing. ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 24 has
published the Basic Image Interchange Format (BIIF) which provides a standard image interchange format for a
wide variety of imagery applications, including medical imaging and other non-geospatial applications. There has
been extensive work done by DGIWG to harmonize the DIGEST standard with the work of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 24.
Annex D of DIGEST is an encapsulation of DIGEST in terms of BIIF components. Also there is compatibility with
the NATO Secondary Imagery Format (NSIF). It is urgent that the formal study of raster and matrix standards
begins in ISO/TC 211 to ensure alignment between the suite of ISO base standards and these external standards.
Parallel efforts are also underway in JTC 1/SC 32/WG 4 SQL/MM to create supporting data types and operators to
manage, query, and disseminate image data. The Open GIS Consortium has recently released an RFP study
document on "Coverages" that is of importance for imagery and gridded data.
The following subsections present the status of each of the external standards efforts related to imagery and
gridded data. Primarily international and public domain or open standards developments are addressed. Sub-
section 3.9 also lists some of the more important industrial or private developments.
3.1 The International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
The International Organization for Standardization is the principal world standardization organization. It establishes
international standards in a broad range of disciplines. In addition to the work in ISO/TC 211 there are several
committees within ISO that are of interest with respect to the standardization of raster data.
3.1.1 ISO/IEC JTC 1 — Information technology standards
The International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Committee Joint Technical
Committee 1 is responsible for the standardization of information technology. Several of its subcommittees are of
particular importance to the study of raster data.
� ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 24 — The subcommittee of JTC 1 which deals with computer graphics and image
processing.
� ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29 — JTC 1 subcommittee responsible for the coded representation of audio, picture,
multimedia and hypermedia information.
� ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 32/WG 3 — JTC 1 subcommittee responsible for data base languages.
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ISO/TR 19121:2000(E)
3.1.1.1 ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 24 — Computer Graphics and Image Processing
This JTC 1 subcommittee is responsible for computer graphics and image processing standards and has
developed the Image Processing and Interchange, Image Interchange Facility (IPI-IIF). This standard suite
provides a framework in which to handle all types of imagery. The standard is being developed in ISO as part of the
work on image processing and it is intentionally broad enough to handle very diverse types of imagery, including
medical X-rays and images, photographs, satellite and other sensor data, and scanned maps. It is expected that
details of the metadata and other adaptations of the basic standard will be developed in different application
domains, such as mapping. ISO/IEC 12087; IPI-IIF is a broad multi-part standard with a separate encoding
standard, ISO/IEC 12089. The standard provides a platform-independent set of image data types, an Application
Programming Interface (API), and an exchange format (IPI-IIF). The underlying encoding is ISO 8824 ASN.1.
The ISO/IEC 12087 IPI-IIF standard contains the following parts:
� Part 1: Common architecture for imaging
� Part 2: Programmer’s imaging kernel system application programme interface.
� Part 3: Image Interchange Facility (IPI-IIF)
Another part of the IPI-IIF standard is ISO/IEC 12087-5: Basic Image Interchange Format (BIIF). Development of
this standard was based on the collaboration of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 24, NATO Air Group IV, Digital Geospatial
Information Working Group (DGIWG), and the US Department of Defense. The US National Imagery Transmission
Format Standards (NITFS) was used as a base document for BIIF. There has been a US Government activity to
harmonize the NITFS with the US Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS).
This published international standard will make use of International Standardized Profiles to define and organize
domain applications of the standard. The US National Imagery Transmission Format (NITF) and the NATO
Secondary Imagery Format will be handled as a profile of BIIF. Commercial applications of NITF include ERDAS
IMAGINE, ARC-INFO, and a Northrup package.
The BIIF standard provides a detailed description of the overall structure of the format, as well as specification of
the format and data domain for all fields defined within BIIF. As part of the ISO/IEC 12087 family of image
processing and interchange standards, BIIF conforms to the architectural and data object specifications of
ISO/IEC 12087-1, the Common architecture for imaging. BIIF supports a profiling scheme that is a combination of
the approaches taken for ISO/IEC 12087-2 Programmer's Imaging Kernel System (PIKS), ISO/IEC 10918 Joint
Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), ISO/IEC 8632 Computer Graphic Metafile (CGM), and ISO/IEC 9973 the
Procedures and Registration of Graphical Items. Geospatial referencing for the interNational Standard Imagery
Format ISP is by way of mandatory inclusion of the geospatial support data extensions defined in Annex D of the
DIGEST.
In BIIF, a translation process enables data interchange between disparate systems. Using BIIF, each system must
be compliant with only one external format that will be used for communication with all other participating systems.
When BIIF is not used as a system's native internal format, each system will translate between the system's
internal representation for imagery and the BIIF format. A system from which data is to be transferred has a
translation module that accepts information structured according to the system's internal representation for images
and related imagery data, and assembles this information in BIIF format. The approach provides the proven
capability to implement general purpose BIIF readers (applications) that can present the basic imagery and
annotations of any BIIF compliant product file created within the constraints of a given profile of BIIF. Although
more robust approaches exist to allow self-defining data structures, these approaches significantly increase the
complexity for implementing general-purpose readers (applications) capable of meaningfully interpreting file
constructs created by a wide variety of diversely developed generators. More simplistic imagery file formats also
exist. These formats are often focused at just portraying a simple digital image and are often too limited in feature
sets to meet the needs of somewhat more sophisticated, but still basic imagery applications. BIIF provides a basic
capability that bridges the gap between simplistic digital image formats and the extremely sophisticated, self-
defining, but potentially complex format. As such, BIIF has some inherent bounds and limitations, but remains as a
very capable basic imagery format that satisfies a broad range of imagery applications.
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ISO/TR 19121:2000(E)
3.1.1.2 ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29 — Coding of Audio, Picture, Multimedia and Hypermedia Information
ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29 supports a broad range of standards for the exchange of picture and multimedia data. This
committee consists of a number of expert groups. The relevant standards are known informally after the names of
the groups that developed them.
� WG 1, the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) for continuous tone pictures, and the Joint Binary Images
Group (JBIG) for bi-level, rasterized, images
� WG 11 the Moving Pictures Experts Group (MPEG)
� WG 12 the Multimedia/Hypermedia Information Coding Experts Group (MHEG)
ISO/IEC 11544, Coded representation of picture and audio information — Progressive bi-level image compression
(JBIG), is a standard sponsored jointly by the UN based International Telegraphic Union (ITU) and ISO. It provides
an efficient lossless compression method for coding two tone, black/white images. The standard supports generic
coding techniques for data compression and decompression for bi-level images and for limited bits-per-pixel
images such as those with a limited number of grey or colour values. The scope of this work includes techniques
for progressive image build-up, from low resolution to higher resolution, and techniques for image resolution
reduction.
ISO/IEC 10918, Digital compression and coding of continuous-tone still images (JPEG), is sponsored jointly by the
ITU and ISO, and is used for continuous-tone (photographic) images. Both lossy transform algorithms and lossless
predictive algorithms are available with the lossy form of the standard being very efficient at up to 35:1
compression. JPEG makes use of continuous-tone digital images much more economical by drastically reducing
the volume required for storage and the bandwidth required for transmission. JPEG helps enable interchange of
images between different vendors, within applications, and between different applications, by providing a common
coded representation of compressed image data. ISO/IEC 13818 MPEG-2, Generic coding of moving pictures and
associated audio information, provides a unified coded representation of audio-visual information that supports
multiple application requirements while maximising interworking. It makes use of a profile/level approach. The
broad acceptance of this standard in industry enables the gradual replacement of the existing costly analogue
equipment and stimulates the interworking of hitherto separate multimedia applications.
ISO/IEC 13522, Coding of multimedia and hypermedia information (MHEG), will provide the coded representation
of final form multimedia and hypermedia information objects, to be interchanged within or across open applications
and services, by any means of interchange. The objective of this standard is to ease the development of
multimedia applications in open environments by ensuring the cross platform compatibility of elementary units of
information called multimedia and hypermedia objects (MHEG Objects). In the p
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