New in BEAM

BEAM Version 4.11

BEAM 4.11 is a release featuring lots of new tools.
The Time Series Tools has been included into BEAM, which allows users to create, inspect, and analyse time series of EO data. The new Temporal Percentile Operator has been introduced; it allows users to create multiple kinds of gap-filled percentile computations. The old binning has been replaced by a new one which adds a number of useful functions and aggregation methods. It is now possible to download data witihn BEAM using the novel OPeNDAP client which provides an easy interface to arbitrary OPeNDAP servers.
BEAM 4.11 now allows to write NetCDF-4 data. Some outdated parts of the software have been dropped in order to keep it lean, such as the former mosaic processor, which has been fully replaced by a faster, more modern variant. Additionally, many changes in the API have been made that allow users to even better develop software on basis of BEAM.

List of bug fixes and improvements

New Features

• [BEAM-1479] - Create shapefile -> CSV converter tool
• [BEAM-1420] - Support (A)ATSR Autumn 2012 reprocessed data products

Improvements

• [BEAM-1481] - Explain the radiometric correction files
• [BEAM-1477] - Update OBPG readers to 1.4
• [BEAM-1126] - Pixel-geocoding consumes too much memory

Bugs

• [BEAM-1411] - Various product readers fail if input product has no parent
• [BEAM-1225] - gpt command-line. No data product writer for the 'HDF5' format available
• [BEAM-1319] - The beam.config file must be edit with administrator rights
• [BEAM-1412] - Profile plot uses wrong pixels for shape in projected products
• [BEAM-1419] - Time extraction not always applied
• [BEAM-1421] - A file in NetCDF-BEAM format, which was created using the BandMaths gpf operator, can not be opened in VISAT
• [BEAM-1425] - NPE in Landsat GeoTIFF reader
• [BEAM-1426] - Landsat GeoTIFF reader hides other format readers
• [BEAM-1427] - Histogram for SPOT SM Band not correct
• [BEAM-1431] - Product cannot be opened
• [BEAM-1434] - Wrong coordinate extraction with PixEx tool
• [BEAM-1435] - Name of scene view does not change if band is renamed
• [BEAM-1437] - PixEx operator shall handle corrupt products more gracefully
• [BEAM-1439] - Wrong assignment of frequencies to indexes
• [BEAM-1443] - Spectrum View line thickness too thin
• [BEAM-1445] - Pinned spectra barely visible in spectrum view
• [BEAM-1446] - Label of samples is wrong for index-coded bands
• [BEAM-1447] - Dimap reader\writer handling very very large files
• [BEAM-1454] - When I try to put statistics into the vector data, the original vector data becomes corrupted and in such a way that the original content of this file is reduced to one record.
• [BEAM-1466] - Inconsistent state possible in Pixel Extraction user interface
• [BEAM-1468] - Time difference not considered for pixel extraction if defaults are used
• [BEAM-1469] - No PixEx result if products do not have time information
• [BEAM-1470] - It is not correctly detected if measurements have been extracted
• [BEAM-1471] - The time extraction from file name should support DAY_OF_YEAR
• [BEAM-1363] - Write NetCDf 4 files using compression
• [BEAM-1414] - Incorrect valid-pixel mask for ATSR SST bands

BEAM Version 4.10.x

Besides many bug fixes, these are the most important features and enhancements introduced in BEAM 4.10.x:

• Enhanced support for vector data import (such as MERMAID Extraction files, see here)
• Image views may be synchronised via geographical center coordinates (see here)
• Completely revised profile plot; added support for correlative data (see here)
• Completely revised histogram; added support for logarithmic histogram and logiarithmic x-axis (see here)
• Completely revised look and feel of scatter plot (see here)
• Completely revised look and feel of statistics toolview (see here)
• Created completely new correlative plot (see here)
• Added support for import of correlative data, such as SeaDAS-6.x ship tracks, generic CSV or MERMAID data
• Added support for logarithmic x-axis in colour manipulation tool view (see here)

BEAM Version 4.9

The most important features and enhancements introduced in BEAM 4.9 are summarized here:

• Product files can now be dragged from the file explorer into the products view.
• Introduced a new operator for MERIS named 'Radiometry Correction'. It combines a SMILE correction, an equalisation, a radiance-to-reflectance conversion and a new radiometric re-calibration.
• A new tool for exporting pixels from a bunch of data products has been introduced.
• Subsets can now be created by specifying geo-coordinates.

BEAM 4.8

• Readers for SPOT VEGETATION products, Landsat TM products in GeoTIFF format, gridded HDF-EOS products, and generic NetCDF/CF-products have been added..
• A writer for generic NetCDF/CF-products has been added.
• The possibility to apply auto-grouping in the product tree has benn added; that is, product nodes whose names begin equally are automatically put into a common group.
• A toolbar button has been added to show a world map overlay on geographic lat/lon projected products.
• The ESA GlobCover Land Cover Map is used as default world map layer now; however, it is still possible to choose the NASA Blue Marble as world map layer instead.

BEAM 4.7

• VISAT now provides a Vector Data Management allowing users to draw and manipulate geometries (vector data) or to import them from ESRI Shapefiles. Geometries are now an integral part of the BEAM data model.
• The VISAT Mask and ROI Management has been revised completely. Any number of raster data masks can be defined by band maths expressions, value ranges and existing geometries. Each mask can serve as a region of interest (ROI) for raster data analysis.
• The Statistics, Histogram, and Scatter Plot tool windows have been enhanced in order to support the new, named ROIs. The Statistics tool window can now operate on multiple ROIs.
• The Reprojection (formerly 'Map Projection'), Mosaicing and Orthorectification processors have been redesigned from scratch. Due to the great GeoTools library, BEAM now offers more than 100 predefined, map projections based on their EPSG codes. For user-defined map projections you can now select from 25 map projection transformations and more than 100 geodetic datums. Since the new Reprojection, Mosaicing and Orthorectification processors are developed using the BEAM Graph Processing Framework (GPF), they now offer a powerful command-line and can be used in any GPF XML processing graph for, e.g., pre- and post-processing. Finally, the runtime performance of this tools has been drastically improved.
• The Navigation tool window has been improved. It is now feasible to display a synchronized pixel cursor in all image views.
• The World Map tool window has been completely revised. It now uses a higher-resolution RGB (NASA Blue Marble) in which you can easily pan and zoom in and out.