Band interleaved by line (BIL) is one of three primary methods for encoding image data for multiband raster images in the geospatial domain, such as images obtained from satellites. This simple uncompressed raster data encoding is easily and frequently described, requiring no formal specification. BIL is not in itself an image format, but is a scheme for storing the actual pixel values of an image in a file band by band for each line, or row, of the image. The raw data has a simple form and is easily interpreted if the image dimensions in pixels, the number of spectral bands, and the number of bits per band are known. For example, given a three-band image, all three bands of data are written for row one, all three bands of data are written for row two, and so on. The BIL encoding is a compromise format, allowing fairly easy access to both spatial and spectral information. The BIL data organization can handle any number of bands, and thus accommodates black and white, grayscale, pseudocolour, true colour, and multi-spectral image data. Additional information is needed to interpret the image data, such as the numbers of rows, columns, and bands, and relate the image to geospatial locations. This information may be supplied in a file header (typical on the tapes originally used for satellite image data) or in files associated with a raw image data file. Spatial resolution and bit-depth are not limited by the BIL encoding per se but may be constrained in some usage contexts. There is no support for colour management in the BIL encoding. Documentation of spectral values for bands, or interpretation of false colours should be supplied in an accompanying data structure.
Discuss advantages and disadvantages of different methods of storing remote sensing data
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