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Software Tools for Satellite Laser Altimetry Data Processing, Analysis, and Visualization: An Overview and Assessment

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Proceedings of International Conference on Communication and Computational Technologies

Part of the book series: Algorithms for Intelligent Systems ((AIS))

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Abstract

Although there are some applications and application programming interfaces (APIs) to handle satellite laser altimetry data, there is a lack of tools that allow to access, visualize, and explore adequately the very large amount of raw data collected by NASA’s ICESat and ICESat-2 satellite missions on the basis of the data gathering location. In addition, processing and analyzing satellite altimetry data generally demands the use of additional software, that generally does not automatically talk to each other, and requires additional steps such as data filtering, exporting, and conversion. In view of this, this paper presents an overview of the existing software tools for the processing, analysis, and visualization of satellite laser altimetry data, and a comparative discussion of their features and characteristics. Emphasis is placed on the two main computer tools available, namely the OpenAltimetry online tool and ICEComb, a more recent and comprehensive software tool developed by the authors specifically for further processing and examination of satellite laser altimetry data.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partially supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through the Laboratory for Robotics and Engineering Systems (LARSyS)—UID/EEA/2020–2023.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Regional Secretariat for Education, Science and Technology, Regional Government of Madeira, Funchal, Portugal

    Bruno Silva

  2. Faculty of Exact Sciences and Engineering, University of Madeira, Penteada Campus, 9020-105, Funchal, Madeira Is., Portugal

    Luiz Guerreiro Lopes & Pedro Campos

  3. Interactive Technologies Institute (ITI/LARSyS), 9020-105, Funchal, Portugal

    Pedro Campos

Authors
  1. Bruno Silva
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  2. Luiz Guerreiro Lopes
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  3. Pedro Campos
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Correspondence to Bruno Silva .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Christ (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

    Sandeep Kumar

  2. Rajasthan Institute of Engineering and Technology, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

    Saroj Hiranwal

  3. Rajasthan Technical University, Kota, Rajasthan, India

    S. D. Purohit

  4. School of Computer Science, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Mukesh Prasad

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Silva, B., Lopes, L.G., Campos, P. (2023). Software Tools for Satellite Laser Altimetry Data Processing, Analysis, and Visualization: An Overview and Assessment. In: Kumar, S., Hiranwal, S., Purohit, S.D., Prasad, M. (eds) Proceedings of International Conference on Communication and Computational Technologies . Algorithms for Intelligent Systems. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3951-8_65

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