[Gdal-dev] Using GDAL to open NITF image

[Frank Warmerdam]

On Mon, 10 Jan 2005 16:54:18 -0500, Geoffrey Foote <gfoote at caci.com> wrote:
>  
> Hello, 
>  
>  
> I'm looking for some advice on the best way to open a NITF image from
> source. I not only want to be able to open the entire NITF file, but I would
> like to display the image/images with in the file and save them out a
> different format. 

Geoff,

For opening an NITF image, accessing information and copying the image
to another file I would suggest you review the GDAL API Tutorial at:

  http://www.gdal.org/gdal_tutorial.html

It applies pretty directly to NITF format. 

GDAL does not have a visualization component, so displaying the
NITF images will have to be handled by some other application or layer.
There are a variety of applications that support vizualization using GDAL
including OpenEV (http://openev.sf.net). 

GDAL issues specific to NITF should be discussed in the driver page.  Be
aware there is alot of NITF specific supporting data available in some NITF
files.  A significant amount is exposed by GDAL as metadata, but there are
also lots of extension objects in NITF that are not supported by GDAL.  If
you have very specific needs you will need to ask additional questions.

Driver page:

  http://www.gdal.org/frmt_nitf.html
  
Best regards,

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