Exercise1 RS

G29 – REMOTE SENSING
Exercise No. 1
Installation and Familiarization with QGIS and Semi‐automated Classification Plugin
Introduction:
QGIS is a professional Geographic Information System (GIS) application that is built on top of and proud
to be itself Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), licensed under the GNU General Public License. QGIS
is an official project of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo). It runs on Linux, Unix, Mac OSX,
Windows, and Android and supports numerous vector, raster, and database formats and functionalities
Developed by Luca Congedo, the Semi‐Automatic Classification Plugin (SCP) is a free and open source
plugin for QGIS that allows for the semi‐automatic classification (also known as supervised classification)
of remote sensing images. It provides several tools for the download of free images, preprocessing,
postprocessing, and raster calculation. The overall objective of SCP is to provide a set of intertwined tools
for raster processing in order to make an automatic workflow and ease the land cover classification, which
could be performed also by people whose main field is not remote sensing.
Objectives:
• To install and be familiarized with the interface and tools in QGIS 3.22
• To explore the capabilities of QGIS in displaying raster data (images)
• To install the Semi‐automated Classification Plugin (SCP) and display Landsat 8 satellite image data
Materials:
• QGIS 3.22
• Semi‐Automatic Classification Plugin (SCP) files (optional)
• Landsat 8 OLI image containing your hometown (you need to download from
https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/)
Procedures:
I. INSTALLATION AND FAMILIARIZATION WITH THE SOFTWARE
You have installed and explored QGIS in your Geomatics subject.
II. INSTALLATION AND CONFIGURATION OF THE SCP PLUGIN

There are two ways to add plugins in QGIS:
Option A. Using the QGIS Plugin manager
(Note: An internet connection is needed for this option)
a. Select in the menu Plugins > Manage
and Install Plugins. The Plugins
window opens (similar to the image
on the right)
b. Search for the required plugin (i.e.
Semi‐automated Classification Plugin)
and click the
Install plugin button.
c. Done!
ENGR. MAY Z. VALDEZ, ME-GE 1

Option B. Downloading from the website and copying in a directory

Another way to add a plugin is to search for the plugin folder from the online repository and download
the script (or copy from an existing installation), which you can then copy to the QGIS directory. Most of
the plugins can be downloaded from this site: https://plugins.qgis.org/plugins/?sort=downloads
a. For this exercise, in QGIS menu go to Settings > User profiles > Open Active Profile folder. The QGIS
profile folder will open.
b. Open the folder python > plugins and copy the provided SCP plugin folder to this directory.
c. Restart QGIS.
Using either option, after the Semi‐Automatic Classification Plugin is installed, a dock and a toolbar
should be added to QGIS. Also, an SCP menu is available in the Menu Bar of QGIS. It is possible to move
the toolbar and the dock according to your needs, similar to the figure below:
6. In the menu bar click SCP and note the available tools/options:

III. LOADING LANDSAT DATA IN QGIS USING SCP

7. Go to menu SCP > Band set. The SCP plugin window opens
8. Under the Multiband image list, click the Open a file button .
9. Browse to the folder containing your downloaded Landsat image and select the corresponding *.tif
files for bands 2, 3 and 4. Click Open
10. The list under Single band list will be populated with the bands you added, as shown in the figure
below:
11. The bands will also be loaded in the Layers panel.

12. Under the Band set definition, bands are automatically added under Band set 1. If it is not updated,
select the three bands and click the button.
13. For the option Quick wavelength settings, click the drop‐down button and select Landsat OLI [bands
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7].
14. On the left‐side tabs of the SCP plugin window, click Basic tools.
15. Under the RGB list, check that you have available RGB band combinations (e.g., 3‐2‐1). Otherwise, click
the Add row button . It will create an entry 0‐0‐0. Double‐click on the entry and edit as 3‐2‐1.
16. A Virtual Band Set 1 image layer is automatically added under the Layers panel.
Question 1: Describe the resulting image display. Which colors correspond to which earth’s surface
features? Paste a screenshot of the image displayed and its legend as shown in the Layers panel.
17. Close the SCP plugin window for now.
IV. WORKING WITH RASTER LAYERS (IMAGES)

18. In the Layers Panel, double‐click on the Virtual Band Set
[#]
19. The Layer Properties window will be displayed (see Figure
on the right).
20. Take note of the ten (10) tabs available for the raster layer
properties.
21. Click the Information tab.

Question 2: What is the quantization level, coordinate reference system, and spatial resolution (with
the correct unit) of the image?
22. In the Symbology tab, expand the options for Min / Max Value Settings
i. Click on the radio button for Min / Max. Click Apply and inspect the resulting image display.
ii. Select Mean +/‐ standard deviation 2. Click Apply and inspect the resulting image display.
iii. Return the setting to cumulative count cut 2 ‐ 98%
Question 3: Describe the effect of changing settings for min/max values. Paste screenshots of the
resulting image display to support your observations.
23. Click the dropdown option for Contrast enhancement (it’s above Min / Max Value Settings). The
default is Stretch to MinMax. Try the Stretch and clip to MinMax and Clip to MinMax. Note the
changes in the image display.
Question 4: Describe the effect of different contrast enhancement options in QGIS. Paste screenshots
of the resulting image display to support your observations.
V. ZOOMING TOOLS
24. The zoom tools are useful for focusing and looking at the
spatial aspect of your geographic data. Inspect the different
Zoom tools:
25. You can use Zoom to Layer to reset the zoom level of your
display and focus on a particular data layer. This is helpful if
your image is displaced too much that you cannot see your
data and/or several layers are simultaneously displayed.
26. Create a Navigation window. Go to menu View > New Map
View. A window will be created named Map 1. Click the
Zoom Full button.
27. Click the View settings button and configure as shown on
the image on the right.
28. Click the button again to close the options.
29. In the map view window, try zooming in and out of the image
display. Observe what happens in the Map 1 window.
Question 5: What is the purpose of Map 1 window? What does the
red rectangle demarcate?
30. Save your project. In the Menu bar, go to Project > Save As.

References:
• https://qgis.org/en/site/about/index.html
• Congedo Luca (2016). Semi‐Automatic Classification Plugin Documentation. DOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.29474.02242/1
For submission:
• A report containing:
 a summary of steps done for this exercise
 answers to questions
• Save your report as RSlab1_<SURNAME>.pdf

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G29 – REMOTE SENSING

I. INSTALLATION AND FAMILIARIZATION WITH THE SOFTWARE

You have installed and explored QGIS in your Geomatics subject.

II. INSTALLATION AND CONFIGURATION OF THE SCP PLUGIN

ENGR. MAY Z. VALDEZ, ME-GE 1

Option B. Downloading from the website and copying in a directory

ENGR. MAY Z. VALDEZ, ME-GE 2

III. LOADING LANDSAT DATA IN QGIS USING SCP

11. The bands will also be loaded in the Layers panel.

17. Close the SCP plugin window for now.

IV. WORKING WITH RASTER LAYERS (IMAGES)

ENGR. MAY Z. VALDEZ, ME-GE 3

ENGR. MAY Z. VALDEZ, ME-GE 4

ENGR. MAY Z. VALDEZ, ME-GE 5

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