Digital Image Processing

"Digital image processing may involve numerous procedures including formatting and correcting of the data, digital enhancement to facilitate better visual interpretation, or even automated classification of targets and features entirely by computer. In order to process remote sensing imagery digitally, the data must be recorded and available in a digital form suitable for storage on a computer tape or disk. Obviously, the other requirement for digital image processing is a computer system, sometimes referred to as an image analysis system, with the appropriate hardware and software to process the data. Several commercially available software systems have been developed specifically for remote sensing image processing and analysis.

For discussion purposes, most of the common image processing functions available in image analysis systems can be categorized into the following four categories:

•     Preprocessing
•     Image Enhancement
•     Image Transformation
•     Image Classification and Analysis"(Natural Resources Canada/Canada Centre for Remote Sensing, 2015)