LandsatLook Viewer

Welcome to the LandsatLook Viewer!The LandsatLook Viewer is a prototype tool that was developed to allow rapid online viewing and access to the USGS Landsat image archives. This viewer allows you to:Interactively explore the Landsat archive at up to full resolution directly from a common web browserSearch for specific Landsat images based on area of interest, acquisition date, or cloud coverCompare image features and view changes through timeDisplay configurable map information layers in combination with the Landsat imageryCreate a customized image display and export as a simple graphic fileView metadata and download the full-band source imagerySearch by address or place, or zoom to a point, bounding box, or Sentinel-2 Tile or Landsat WRS-1 or WRS-2 Path/RowGenerate and download a video animation of the oldest to newest images displayed in the viewerWe welcome feedback and input for future versions of this Viewer! Please provide your comments or suggestions .About the ImageryThis viewer provides visual and download access to the USGS LandsatLook "Natural Color" imageproduct archive.BackgroundThe Landsat satellites have been collecting multispectral images of Earth from space since 1972. Each image contains multiple bands of spectral information which may require significant user time, system resources, and technical expertise to obtain a visual result. As a result, the use and access to Landsat data has been historically limited to the scientific and technical user communities.The LandsatLook “Natural Color” image product option was created to provide Landsat imagery in a simple user-friendly and viewer-ready format, based on specific bands that have been selected and arranged to simulate natural color. This type of product allows easy visualization of the archived Landsat image without any need for specialized software or technical expertise.LandsatLook ViewerThe LandsatLook Viewer displays the LandsatLook Natural Color image product for all Landsat 1-8 images in the USGS archive and was designed primarily for visualization purposes.The imagery within this Viewer will be of value to anyone who wants to quickly see the full Landsat record for an area, along with major image features or obvious changes to Earth’s surface through time. An area of interest may be extracted and downloaded as a simple graphic file directly through the viewer, and the original full image tile is also available if needed. Any downloaded LandsatLook image product is a georeferenced file and will be compatible within most GIS and Web mapping applications.If the user needs to perform detailed technical analysis, the full bands of Landsat source data may also be accessed through direct links provided on the LandsatLook Viewer.Image ServicesThe imagery that is visible on this LandsatLook Viewer is based on Web-based ArcGIS image services. The underlying REST service endpoints for the LandsatLook imagery are available at https://landsatlook.usgs.gov/arcgis/rest/services/LandsatLook/ImageServer .Useful linksLandsat- Landsat Mission (USGS)- Landsat Science (NASA)LandsatLook- Product Description- USGS Fact Sheet- LandsatLook image services (REST)Landsat Products- Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS- Landsat 7 ETM+- Landsat 4-5 TM- Landsat 1-5 MSS- Landsat Band DesignationsLandsatLook images are full-resolution files derived from Landsat Level-1 data products. The images are compressed and stretched to create an image optimized for image selection and visual interpretation. It is recommended that these images not be used in image analysis.LandsatLook image files are included as options when downloading Landsat scenes from EarthExplorer, GloVis, or the LandsatLook Viewer (See Figure 1).Figure 1. LandsatLook and Level-1 product download optionsLandsatLook Natural Color ImageThe LandsatLook Natural Color image is a .jpg composite of three bands to show a “natural” looking (false color) image. Reflectance values were calculated from the calibrated scaled digital number (DN) image data. The reflectance values were scaled to a 1-255 range using a gamma stretch with a gamma=2.0. This stretch was designed to emphasize vegetation without clipping the extreme values.Landsat 8 OLI = Bands 6,5,4Landsat 7 ETM+ and Landsat 4-5 TM = Bands 5,4,3Landsat 4-5 MSS = Bands 2,4,1Landsat 1-3 MSS = Bands 7,5,4LandsatLook Thermal ImageThe LandsatLook Thermal image is a one-band gray scale .jpg image that displays thermal properties of a Landsat scene. Image brightness temperature values were calculated from the calibrated scaled digital number (DN) image data. An image specific 2 percent clip and a linear stretch to 1-255 were applied to the brightness temperature values.Landsat 8 TIRS = Band 10Landsat 7 ETM+ = Band 61-high gainLandsat 4-5 TM = Band 6Landsat 1-5 MSS = not availableLandsatLook Quality ImageLandsatLook Quality images are 8-bit files generated from the Landsat Level-1 Quality band to provide a quick view of the quality of the pixels within the scene to determine if a particular scene would work best for the user's application. This file includes values representing bit-packed combinations of surface, atmosphere, and sensor conditions that can affect the overall usefulness of a given pixel. Color mapping assignments can be seen in the tables below.  For each Landsat scene, LandsatLook Quality images can be downloaded individually in .jpg format, or as a GeoTIFF format file (_QB.TIF) within the LandsatLook Images with Geographic Reference file.Landsat Collection 1 LandsatLook 8-bit Quality Images DesignationsLandsat 8 OLI/TIRSLandsat 7 ETM+, Landsat 4-5 TMLandsat 1-5 MSSColorBitDescriptionBitDescriptionBitDescription 0Designated Fill0Designated Fill0Designated Fill 1Terrain Occlusion1Dropped Pixel1Dropped Pixel  2Radiometric Saturation 2Radiometric Saturation ​2Radiometric Saturation  3Cloud3Cloud3Cloud 4Cloud Shadow4Cloud Shadow 4Unused 5Snow/Ice 5Snow/Ice 5Unused 6Cirrus 6Unused6Unused 7Unused7Unused7UnusedUnusedTable 1. Landsat Collection 1 LandsatLook 8-bit Quality Images Designations LandsatLook Images with Geographic ReferenceThe LandsatLook Image with Geographic Reference is a .zip file bundle that contains the Natural Color, Thermal, and the 8-bit Quality images in georeferenced GeoTiff (.TIF) file format.Figure 2. LandsatLook Natural Color Image: Landsat 8 Path 45 Row 30 Acquired April 23, 2013Figure 3. LandsatLook Thermal Image: Landsat 8 Path 45 Row 30 Acquired April 23, 2013Figure 4. LandsatLook Quality Image: Landsat 8 Path 45 Row 30 Acquired April 23, 2013 with background color set to dark grey.  Additional Information About LandsatLook ImagesMany geographic information systems and image processing software packages easily support .jpg images. To create these files, Landsat data is mapped to a 1-255 range, with the fill area set to zero (if a no-data value is set to zero, the compression algorithm may introduce zero-value artifacts into the data area causing very dark data values to be displayed as no-data).