The concept of data formats refers to the way, in which the digital data are organized and stored. The data format for a remote sensing mission is usually chosen based on a number of considerations, including requirements of the sensing system, mission objective, the design and technology of data processing, archiving, and distribution systems, as well as community data standard. Earth observation data usually come as raster data. The raster data refers to a data model, which holds digital numbers or values in a regularly spaced matrix of cells arranged in rows and columns covering a two-dimensional space. A digital Earth observation image may contain several layers of this two-dimensional space, e.g. one layer for a specific spectral band in the optical or microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The cells in such a layer are also called pixels, which stands for picture element. Earth observation data in an image are stored on a storage medium in one of three formats: Band-Interleaved-by-Sample (BIS), Band Sequential (BSQ), or Band-Interleaved-by-Line (BIL). These formats are determined by different ordering of the data dimensions. Other data formats used in remote sensing, which in this case refer to the file format are GeoTIFF, NetCDF, and HDF. Exact details on the data format of an Earth observation data set is usually provided by the originator of the data, e.g. space administrations such as NASA or ESA or private companies.
data formats vs. data storage?
Discuss how remote sensing data is organized and stored
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