Orfeo ToolBox — The Complete Guide: Open-Source Satellite Image and Remote Sensing Processing
Orfeo ToolBox (OTB) was started by the French space agency CNES to process satellite images at sizes that ordinary software chokes on. It comes as a library with dozens of ready applications, each performing one step in the processing chain.
Orfeo ToolBox (OTB)
CNES and OTB contributors (OSGeo)
A remote-sensing image processing library with dozens of command-line applications and a QGIS plugin for satellite and aerial imagery.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- Geometric correction — orthorectification of satellite and aerial images.
- Pansharpening — fusing a sharp panchromatic band with the colour bands.
- Classification and segmentation — supervised and unsupervised classification and image segmentation.
- Radiometric indices — vegetation, water and soil indices computed from the bands.
- Radar processing — tools for SAR imagery, useful even under cloud cover.
How you work with it
Since version 9 there is no standalone graphical interface: you run the applications from the command line, from Python, or through a QGIS plugin installed separately. Ready-made packages exist for Windows and Linux only. It suits environmental and water engineers and GIS staff analysing floods, land cover and terrain change over time.
Related tools
To view and analyse the resulting layers — QGIS. For format conversion and raster clipping — GDAL. For terrain and hydrology analysis on rasters — WhiteboxTools.
QGIS
QGIS.org
Open-source GIS for spatial analysis, layer work and map production.
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GDAL
OSGeo
Command-line tools and a library to convert, reproject, clip and process geodata — DEMs, GeoTIFF, Shapefile and more.
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WhiteboxTools
Whitebox Geospatial
Hundreds of geospatial analysis tools, especially strong on terrain and LiDAR point clouds.
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SAGA GIS
SAGA Development Team
Advanced spatial analysis, especially on elevation models and terrain.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
OTB is a proven professional toolbox for satellite image processing, free for commercial use too. Anyone willing to work without fancy windows gets serious processing power.