• Added two new functions File – Save as - Google Earth KML (*.kml) and Save as – Google Earth KMZ (*.kmz). Both options save the current image in a format that is suitable for later viewing in Google Earth.

• Enhanced the Geo – Get Vector Objects function ( in the toolbar). WIM can now read the ESRI shapefiles (http://www.esri.com/library/whitepapers/pdfs/shapefile.pdf) as other vector objects. Currently the shape objects are written into the image or into the bitmap but they don’t get into the Vector Objects table. A sample shapefile (USstates.shp) with US state boundaries is installed in the Maps folder.

• Added a new function Geo-View in Google Earth (  in the toolbar) that opens Google Earth (must be installed, see http://www.earth.google.com) and displays the image.

• Enhanced the File - New function ( in the toolbar). You can now specify either the image size in pixels or the approximate pixel size in meters. Also, you can choose to automatically display coastlines on the new image.

• When saving HDF-EOS files in Geographic projection (e.g. navigated ASTER Swath files), the image is now converted to regular HDF and the projection to WIM Linear projection. That is required in order to save multiple images or a RGB image in a single file (see Exercises_ASTER.pdf).

• Added a new function Geo-View in Google Maps ( in the toolbar)

  that opens a new window and displays the image boundaries in Google Maps (see http://www.google.com/maps) with a wealth of geographical information.

• Fixed the problem with saving very large JPEG, PNG and GIF files.

• Most new PCs have either multiple cores or CPUs. The rather slow operation of remapping (Geo–Remap Projection) is now multi-threaded, taking advantage of multi-core and multi-processor PCs. It is now approximately 2 times faster on dual-core CPUs and 4 times faster on 4-core CPUs. The progress bar is also in a separate thread but that is not so obvious to the user.

• Added a new version of Edit-Draw operations for RGB images. If the background image is a RGB image then you can edit the image with a set of 3 values (for each of the Red, Green and Blue components). You can convert an image to RGB image with Transf – Convert to 24bbp (RGB). The color selection is done with new dialogs.

WIM 6.41, February 2007

• Added the long-awaited Undo operation to Edit-Draw. The stack of operations in memory is 16 steps long and you can moved back and forth in the stack using the

     icons on the Toolbar.

WIM 6.40, January 2007

• Revised the Overlay function for Byte, Int, Float and RGB images.
• Associated a number of ocean color products with different extensions with the HDF file type in WIM.
• Added a number of command line WAM applications, revised the WAM manual and Exercises for WIM and WAM.

WIM 6.39, October 2006

• Restored the option to skip a header when reading a plain raster image (Image Header in Settings - Special).
• Added support for the New Generation Sea Surface Temperature (NGSST) data that is an advanced dataset of merged SST around Japan (see paragraph 18 in WIM.pdf). A WAM program wam_convert_ngsst converts the binary NGSST files into standard HDF files with the header data converted to attributes.
• Added support for the AMSR-E data products (SST, wind speed, atmospheric water vapor, cloud water, and rain rate) produced by the Remote Sensing Systems, Inc. (see a paragraph in WIM.pdf). A WAM program wam_convert_amsre converts the binary 3-day, weekly and monthly AMSR-E files into standard HDF files with the relevant attributes added.

WIM 6.38, September 2006

• Improved support for files in HDF-EOS format by using the HDF-EOS library. Geo-location of HDF-EOS grid files is now through the HDF-EOS library. The HDF-EOS data (attributes) are now preserved in the original VGroup format when saving as HDF. MODIS Land projections are now implemented through the HDF-EOS library.

WIM 6.37, September 2006

• Revised and updated the retrieval of geo-location information from USDOC/NOAA/NESDIS CoastWatch NOAA/AVHRR data in HDF format.

WIM 6.36, May 2006

• Revised plotting of the Vector type in Geo-Get Vector Objects
• Made adjustments for reading SST data from the Institute Maurice Lamontagne ftp://calypso.qc.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/period/msst/hdf/)
• Made adjustments for reading AMSR-E ice coverage data from the University of Bremen http://iup.physik.uni-bremen.de:8084/amsredata/asi_daygrid_swath/l1a/s6250/)
• Made adjustments for reading sea-surface height (altimetry) data from AVISO, e.g. ftp://ftp.cls.fr/pub/oceano/AVISO/SSH/duacs/global/dt/ref/msla/merged/h/) and ftp://ftp.cls.fr/pub/oceano/AVISO/SSH/duacs/global/dt/upd/msla/merged/h/)
• Added new command-line WAM routines wam_convert_log, wam_composite_last, wam_convert_gsm, wam_screen_sst_ocpg
• Revised WAM command-line tool wam_l2_map to include screening of the MODIS-Aqua Level-2 SST data using qual_sst quality index

WIM 6.35, April 2006

• Added GeoTIFF support for files saved as TIFF. Currently only images in the Global Equal Angle projection are saved with the GeoTIFF tags. GeoTIFF is a common format in GIS software. Saving a WIM image in GeoTIFF preserves the geo-registration when read with GeoTIFF-compatible software. GeoTIFF tags for other projections may be added in the future.

WIM 6.34, March 2006

• Added Geo-Get Vector Objects (replacing Geo-Tracking).
• Added Vector to the set of Vector Objects read with Geo-Get Vector Objects. File-Get Vectors was formerly a separate function and not compatible with the rest of the vector objects.
• Revised many WAM programs, e.g. wam_eof that performs EOF (Empirical Orthogonal Function) or Principal Component Analysis (PCA) on a series of satellite images. A detailed manual "EOF and PCA analysis with WAM" is at the WIM Manual section.
• Added advanced edge (front) detection programs wam_edge and wam_edge_accumulate that perform edge detection and edge statistics on a series of images. A detailed manual "Edge detection with WIM and WAM" is added at the WIM Manual section.

WIM 6.33, December 2005

• Added Multi-Compare. This function compares 2 images pixel-wise and finds if the images are different considering a selected threshold value.
• A major overhaul of all the WIM and especially of the WAM codes due to upgrading from Visual Studio 7.1 to 8.0. When upgrading from a previous version of WIM or WAM to version 6.33 you need to do a full setup as all the supporting Microsoft libraries (DLLs) have changed. It is best to uninstall the previous version and then install the new version. You will not loose your settings. When upgrading to WAM 6.33 you also need the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 to be installed (provided on the WAM CD). The WIM and WAM Setups have also changed and are now based on the MSI technology. The new setup files are, respectively, wim.msi, wam.msi, wimle.msi.

WIM 6.32, November 2005

• Revised View-Annotate. The tic-marks to the color-bar can now be either auto-genereated or specified one-by-one in the text field Comma-separated values.

WIM 6.31, October 2005

• Revised the suite of WAM programs to create merged, mapped time series of MODIS-Aqua and SeaWiFS images from their Level-2 datasets. The daily mapped composites are generated with wam_l2_map that uses a set of Level-2 flags to eliminate low-quality pixels. Daily composites from 2 sensors (e.g. Aqua and SeaWiFS) are composited with wam_composite_2sensors. 5-day composites are generated with wam_composite_5day and the results are further composited with wam_composite_2x into a period of selected days. A detailed manual is added at the WIM Manual section.
• Revised the inverse mapping methods in WIM and WAM. The new method is much faster but uses more memory. In a typical case the new method drastically speeds up mapping of large images.

WIM 6.30, May 2005

• Added a suite of WAM programs to create merged, mapped time series of MODIS-Aqua and SeaWiFS images from their Level-2 datasets. The Level-2 data files can be selected and ordered with the Ocean Color "Level 1 and 2 Browser". The daily mapped composites are generated with wam_sw_l2_map that uses a set of Level-2 flags to eliminate low-quality pixels. Daily composites from 2 sensors (e.g. Aqua and SeaWiFS) are composited with wam_composite_2sensors. 5-day composites are generated with wam_composite_sw_5day and the results are further composited with wam_composite_sw_2x into a period of selected days. A detailed manual is added at the WIM Manual section.
• Updated WAM utility wam_series.exe.
• Added a new mapping method in WAM: it uses a mapping profile that drastically speeds up mapping of multiple bands of similar projection.
• Added a new WAM program wam_eof that performs EOF (Empirical Orthogonal Function) or Principal Component Analysis (PCA) on a series of satellite images. A detailed manual is added at the WIM Manual section.

WIM 6.29, February 2005

• Added support for the 1-degree monthly maps of Mean Sea Level Anomaly (MSLA) from the merged TOPEX/POSEIDON, Jason and ERS-1/2 dataset (downloadable from ftp://ftp.cls.fr/pub/oceano/enact/msla/merged_monthly_average/). Higher resolution merged data in Global Mercator projection are at ftp://ftp.cls.fr/pub/oceano/enact/msla/merged/). The netCDF format data can be read as HDF.
• Added support for many MODIS Land products like Vegetation Indices (e.g. MOD13A2 using GCTP_SNSOID projection) available from http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/datapool/MODIS/02_Atmosphere/01_Level_2/index.html). The netCDF format data can be read as HDF.
• Added support for many MODIS Atmosphere products. Terra Atmosphere products can be ordered from http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/daac-bin/MODIS/Data_order.pl?PRINT=1 and Aqua Atmosphere products from http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/daac-bin/MODIS/Data_order.pl?PRINT=1&AQUA_DATA=1. Recent data are downloadable from the DataPool, e.g. Level-3 products from http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/datapool/MODIS/02_Atmosphere/02_Level_3/index.html .
• Added support for many MODIS Snow and Ice products downloadable from http://nsidc.org/data/modis/data.htmltarget.
• Added button Restore Defaults in Current Settings that deletes the current WIM registry settings. A typical case when you need this is if you accidentally associate a file extension with a wrong file type (after double-clicking on a file and selecting WIM as the application to open that file).
• Added GeoGrid function to WAM (equivalent to the Geo-Grid function in WIM).

WIM 6.28, December 2004

• A major overhaul of the usage of color palette. Now each image has its own palette unless it's the built-in Rainbow type. When an image or a set of images is saved to a HDF file then each image retains its individual palette as an HDF attribute. When reading an HDF file saved with WIM the user can choose whether to use the current default palette (set in Settings-Special-Default LUT with Override LUT in HDF checked) or the palette from the HDF file (unchecked Override LUT in HDF). Settings-General shows the origin of the Custom palette (obtained either from a palette file or an image).
• Added Transf-Rotate for rotating images at any angle. As geo-location is currently not transformed, this function should not be used when geo-location is important.
• In WAM, added a new utility, wam_anomaly for creating a series of monthly anomaly images from a series of monthly images. As a first step, the utility calculates monthly mean images and then creates the anomaly images by either subtracting the corresponding monthly mean or by dividing with the corresponding mean.
• Enhanced Segm-Fill Holes. This function fills zero-valued pixels with the mean value of the neighborhood valid pixels. The neighborhood (window) size is selectable and is 3 x 3 pixels by default.
• Enhanced File-Lookup table-Load LUT and File-Lookup table-Load LUT raw - these functions now "remember" the last folder used for the LUT files.
• In WAM, added a new method, LoadLUT for reading color lookup table files (corresponding to the File-Lookup table-Load LUT function in WIM). For example, a special color lookup table may be useful when generating anomaly images.

WIM 6.27, November 2004

• Added File-Read-Float Bigendian for reading Float32 raster images in the Bigendian format that is popular in the Unix world.
• Modified Segment - Fill Holes to work with all kinds of pixels (not just Byte). This function can be used to fill small areas of no data with an average value of neighboring valid pixels.
• Added "Save as compressed" option in Save as HDF. It can be turned on and off from a checkbox in Settings-Special-HDF Options. With compression the size of the saved HDF file is reduced by many times while the file extension does not change and the usage remains the same. For typical images with large areas of no data (e.g. due to clouds) the file size is reduced by 10-15 times while for images with highly variable pixel values the reduction is less than 2 times.
• Enhanced Save as HDF with Lat/Lon arrays - a single set of Latitude and Longitude arrays is saved with the file. All the images to be saved into a file should be of the same size.
• Revised and improved the user interface of Geo-Tracking.
• In WAM: added new functions wam_rgb_modis2, zoom_modis_lat_lon. They produce accurately co-registered and mapped quasi true-color images using MODIS 250-m and 500-m data.

WIM 6.26, September 2004

• The File-Read ASCII and File-Read ASCII Float functions were completely revised. The input text file format is now much more flexible and WIM automatically recognizes many different separators (space, comma, tab, semicolon). Image files as text can be generated with many other programs, e.g. Excel or WIM (File-Save as ASCII).
• Added the Single Image Edge Detection (SIED) algorithm of Cayula and Cornillon (1992) with the Diehl et al. (2002) variable window modification. The Edge-SIED function can be used for detecting fronts (edges between more homogeneous areas) in images.
• Enhanced the Edge-Thin Lines: it can be used after the Edge-SIED to thin the detected fronts.
• Added EdgeSIED (analogous to Edge-SIED) and ThinLines (analogous to Edge-Thin Lines) to WAM.
• Added new function Convert to 24bb (RGB) that converts any WIM image (except a RGB image) to 24-bit per pixel RGB image. Using this function and Multi-Mask w. Image it is possible to combine typical ocean color chlorophyll images for the ocean and true-color RGB images for land.

WIM 6.25, August 2004

• Enhanced the Geo-Bathy Image function: added a high resolution depth database at 2 minute latitude-longitude resolution (world_bathy_2min.dat). The 2-minute database is rather big (114 MB) and is only installed if you choose the Custom setup option when installing WIM.
• Enhanced the File-Save as HDF function: when saving Int32 Bitmask images, the flag names will be saved and restored when the image is read again.
• Enhanced the Transf-Gradients functions: the Sobel and Max Difference functions can now be applied to all kinds of images, not just Byte images.

WIM 6.24, July 2004

• Added to WAM: a function to read 2-byte plain raster images (Open2Byte) with the option to swap bytes.
• Added to WAM: a function to transfer geo-referencing from one image in memory to another image in memory (CopyGeoDataFrom).
• Added to WAM: user definable unscaled unary and binary functions. The scaled versions of these functions have been part of WAM since its beginning. The scaled functions always return Float32 images. When working with inherently Byte or Integer types of images it was time consuming to convert Float32 images back to Byte or Integer.

WIM 6.23, June 2004

• Added support for version 5 of the NOAA/NASA AVHRR Oceans Pathfinder Sea Surface Temperature Data Set announced on June 10, 2004 (see http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/sog/pathfinder4km/). The new SST dataset has significant improvements over version 4.1, including higher spatial resolution (4km) and improved ice and land masks which allow for more retrievals along the coasts and in lakes. Web access: http://data.nodc.noaa.gov/pathfinder/Version5.0
  FTP access: ftp://data.nodc.noaa.gov/pub/data.nodc/pathfinder/Version5.0/
• Added support for mapped altimetry data in the netCDF format. Maps of Sea Level Anomaly (MSLA) obtained from data of various sensors (TOPEX/POSEIDON, Jason, ERS-1/2, Envisat) can be read with WIM. The maps are provided on a MERCATOR 1/3° grid. More details are provided in the "Altimetry Products" section of the manual.

WIM 6.22, May 2004

• Added support for a new dataset type (SDS) in HDF files: double precision floating point number float64. WIM reads float64 datasets and automatically converts to float32 datasets.
• Added new functions to WAM: saving multiple images into a single HDF file, image Mirror (Horizontal and Vertical), reading of generic attributes (e.g. arrays of float32 or int32 numbers ) like in WIM.
• Improved Examine - RGB Image : you can now find the best color combination on a small rectangle. Just select a rectangle and select Examine-RGB Image from the menu. The RGB image is created quickly in the selected rectangle. You can now adjust the range values of the components. After clicking OK the selected range values will be propagated to the whole image. This is a very useful addition as making and adjusting RGB images on large images at once can be very slow.
• Added a new option for creating overlays for RGB image. A typical coastline overlay has pixel value 255 and that produces a blue coastline on a RGB image. To create a white overlay you need to create a RGB image from the single overlay. That makes all 3 components 255 and that produces a white overlay on the RGB image.
• Enhanced the geo-location of images produced with the Cut and Zoom operations from the Global Equal Angle projection.
  
• Enhanced the Multi-Shift Image function by making it work with all types of images, including RGB images.

WIM 6.21, March 2004

• Added new options to Multi - Composite: Last. The Last pixel method for compositing is useful when you are interested in the current situation but some of the areas on the latest images are covered by clouds or are unusable for other reasons. The pixels missing on the last image are therefore retrieved from the nearest previous image.
• Added Bilinear Zoom function to WAM.
• Added support for new HDF formats of CoastWatch images that use the GCTP mapping functions for geo-location. Sample CoastWatch files in the HDF format files can be found at
  http://cwcaribbean.aoml.noaa.gov/cwatch-web/cgi-bin/catalog.cgi?region=sr.
  Enhanced Examine-RGB Image: it is now 5-6 times faster than before.
• Added support for a new dataset type (SDS) in HDF files: double precision floating point number float64.

WIM 6.20, February 2004

• Added new options to Transf - Zoom: Bilinear and Bicubic with respectively bilinear and bicubic interpolation. Both accept a floating point scaling factor. If the scaling factor is less than 1 then they actually reduce the image. The quality of the image zoomed with interpolation is much better than the old Nearest Neighbor zoom. The geo-location coefficients of the zoomed images are adjusted accordingly. The bilinear zoom also works with RGB images.
• Added new function Multi - Sharpening that allows to create fake full-resolution images using another full-resolution band and assuming constant ratios between full-resolution and interpolated (smoothed) images. increases the resolution of one band to the resolution of another, higher-resolution band. This function can be applied to the MODIS 500 m bands to produce fake 250 m bands using an existing 250 m band.
• Enhanced Geo-Tracking: it is now possible to select multiple files of points, drifter tracks or other vector objects and read them all at once. Reading of the NOAA drifter track format was also simplified: lines where latitude and longitude values cannot be read are automatically skipped (this allows skipping of the header lines inserted by email clients such as Outlook); it is assumed the latitude value precedes the longitude value regardless of the setting of the View-Settings-Special-Lat first checkbox.

WIM 6.19, January 2004

• Added a special file format (NOAA drifter data format) for reading the point and drifter data in the Geo-Tracking function.
• Added support for GLI mapped Level-3 images: the projection is automatically set to Global Equal Angle with Shift = 180.
• Revised the basics of image color coding using lookup tables (LUT). Pixels with value 0 (usually meaning no data) and 255 (usually meaning no data, error or flag) are now better separated from the low and high data values even when doing linear color stretch.

WIM 6.18, November 2003

• Enhanced the Geo-Get Map Overlay function: it can now create Int16 overlays in addition to Byte overlays.
• Enhanced the Geo-Tracking: the input files for the point, transect, rectangle and drifter track can now be either in the Lat, Lon, Value or Lon, Lat, Value format. All the code for reading vector objects was revised.
• Enhanced the Geo-Tracking-Drifter track: the plot now includes arrows showing the direction of the drifter.
• Added a function in WAM for reading plain raster images of variable sizes.
• Enhanced the Examine-Contour lines: image filtering is now available for multi-byte images.
• Enhanced WAM functions wam_series, wam_match. The wam_series program now includes saving and loading log files that store all the program settings. It is now convenient for the user to switch between several projects while keeping the different settings.
• Enhanced the Geo-Remap function. When "Open new image" checkbox is unchecked the image is being mapped on top of the target image. Doing this repetitively makes a mosaic.

WIM 6.17, November 2003

• Added the Max and Mean-Pos filters in the Transf - Filter options.
• Added automatic remapping to optimal Linear projection in the Geo - Remap Projection function. This function finds the latitude and longitude bounds of an image, creates a Linear projection and remaps the image. It is especially useful to apply for the Latitude/Longitude Array (LLA) projections used with MODIS and GLI. LLA is versatile but very slow and inconvenient to use.
• Enhanced the new image type: RGB image. It is a special version of Int32 image that is created in memory with Examine-RGB image function. Previously that could have been saved only as a bitmap (e.g. JPEG, BMP) and not as HDF. Now the RGB image properties including geo-referencing will be saved in HDF file.
• Enhanced the smart algorithm for locate the corresponding files with the latitude/longitude arrays (LLA) for MODIS-Terra, MODIS-Aqua and GLI ocean products that keep the LLA in a separate file. Typically these filenames are very long and finding the right file with the LLA for the image that you are trying to load is quite a challenge. Without any input from the user the "longest common substring" algorithm is being used to suggest the best matching filename with the LLA. At the same time known file types that do not contain the LLA are excluded.
• Added a new type of Scientific Dataset (SDS) that can be read from HDF files: little endian Int16. This format has been rarely used in remote sensing but it is used in Autoprobe CP (an atomic force microscope).
• Added a new type of Vector Objects: Drifter track that has the same format as Point but includes a sequence (set) of points in the same object. This new object is used to overlay drifter tracks on images.

WIM 6.16, October 2003

• Enhanced the File - New function that opens a blank new image. Now you can set a Linear (Cylindrical) projection for it by specifying the latitude-longitude ranges.
• Added a new image file type, the GOES-SST data. The GOES-SST data are available for downloading at 6-km resolution as hourly, 3-hourly and daily composites for the western hemisphere in between 60N;180W and 45S;30W.
• Added a new input file type that creates an image - "Lat, Lon, Value ASCII" that reads triplets of latitude, longitude, value from a text file and creates a Float32 image in the Global Equal Angle projection.
• Added new internal image type - RGB - and new saved RGB type (attribute) in HDF file. When right-clicking on an RGB image the three components (R,G,B) are shown.
• Added new toolbar buttons for often used operations: Examine-RGB Image, Geo-Remap Projection, Geo-Get Map Overlay, Transf-Convert.

WIM 6.15, September 2003

• Added a new vector object type: a text label. Text labels can now be positioned at any location in an image, they can be edited and deleted.
• Added a smart algorithm to locate the proper file with the latitude/longitude arrays (LLA) for MODIS, GLI and other data products that keep the LLA in a separate file. Typically these filenames are very long and finding the right file with the LLA for the image that you are trying to load is quite a challenge. Without any input from the user the "longest common substring" algorithm is being used to suggest the best matching filename with the LLA.
• Revised Geo-Remap Proj function by making options for Forward mapping and Fill gaps.
  If Forward mapping is unchecked the Inverse mapping is used. Forward mapping with Fill gaps checked means that forward mapping is done first and inverse mapping is then used only for those pixels with no value.
• Added functions for reading Level-3 wind data from SeaWinds on QuikSCAT satellite
  (see http://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/info/ftp.html). The data can be downloaded from ftp://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/pub/ocean_wind/quikscat/.
• Enhanced View-Annotate by making the color bar fill the whole selected rectangle with the color range actually used.
• Added a new function to WAM: OpenHDFWithExternalLLA with int[] reads a set of images corresponding to the input array of sequence numbers.
• A major enhancement in WAM: the maximum number of HDF images that could be read by a WAM program was limited to 15-16 due to a bug. Now almost unlimited number of HDF images can be handled.

WIM 6.14, August 2003

• Adjusted functions for reading and geo-locating GLI Level-1 and Level-2 products

  (see http://sharaku.eorc.nasda.go.jp/GLI/index.html).
• Improved the Transf-Zoom function by making it to work with multi-byte images.
• Added a new function OpenHDFWithExternalLLA in WAM and improved the reading of HDF files with Latitude/Longitude arrays (LLA) in external files.
• Improved Geo-Remap Proj function by making options for Forward, inverse and composite mapping. Composite mapping means making forward mapping first and then using inverse mapping only for those pixels with no value, i.e. "Fill gaps".

WIM 6.13, July 2003

• Added a new file type when saving images: HDF with Lat/Lon arrays. This is a very versatile format for saving projection info and is being used, e.g. with MODIS L2 images. However, it is also VERY slow with all geo-referencing operations and should be avoided if possible.
• Enhanced the Geo - Remap Projection function by allowing to select Forward mapping. The default mode in remapping is Inverse mapping which means that for each pixel in the new image the best matching pixel is found in the source image. Inverse mapping usually generates better looking images. However, for large target files as well as MODIS Level-2 images inverse mapping to is prohibitively slow. In Forward mapping each source pixel is mapped into a remapped location in the target projection. This is usually faster but the resulting image may be full of empty pixels interspersed with remapped pixels. You may have to experiment to find the best remapping option.

WIM 6.12, June 2003

• Added the functionality of reading of 3-dimensional MODIS datasets including 500 m and 250 m bands. All bands (slices) in the 3-dimensional SDS (scientific dataset) are read into multiple image buffers.
• Enhanced the Transf - Bitmask function by allowing to select bits that must be ON and bits that must be OFF. The user can create masks corresponding to certain Level-2 flag criteria or quality levels corresponding to any bit combinations in the bitmask image.
• Enhanced the Examine - Contour Lines function by enabling median filtering before contouring for 2- and 4-byte-per-pixel images. Median filtering is essential for most fields to produce good-looking contour lines.
• Added the equivalent of Examine - Contour Lines function to WAM.
• Enhanced the user interface of WIM by enabling a single instance of WIM. What it means to the user is that by clicking on multiple image files they all end up in the same WIM instance and are available for joint analysis. In the previous versions clicking on individual image files would open a new instance of WIM for each file. For example, the function Multi-Primary Production requires 3 input images. Unless they are in the same file, it is easiest to find the images with the Windows Explorer and read them into WIM by clicking (double-clicking). It is, of course, possible to use the File-Open dialog in WIM and it is convenient if the files are in the same folder as WIM remembers the previously used folders. If the image files are in different folders then most users prefer using Windows Explorer to navigating to them and load them into WIM by just clicking on the filename.
• Added the functionality of reading of the projection information for CZCS Level-2 files. These files have the separate "latitude" and "longitude" datasets similar to MODIS Level-2 files but the number of image pixels per latitude and longitude value is different.
• Enhanced the Transf - Binarize function by inheriting the window size and location for the output image.
  

WIM 6.12, June 2003

• Added the functionality of reading of 3-dimensional MODIS datasets including 500 m and 250 m bands. All bands (slices) in the 3-dimensional SDS (scientific dataset) are read into multiple image buffers.
• Enhanced the Transf - Bitmask function by allowing to select bits that must be ON and bits that must be OFF. The user can create masks corresponding to certain Level-2 flag criteria or quality levels corresponding to any bit combinations in the bitmask image.
• Enhanced the Examine - Contour Lines function by enabling median filtering before contouring for 2- and 4-byte-per-pixel images. Median filtering is essential for most fields to produce good-looking contour lines.
• Added the equivalent of Examine - Contour Lines function to WAM.
• Enhanced the user interface of WIM by enabling a single instance of WIM. What it means to the user is that by clicking on multiple image files they all end up in the same WIM instance and are available for joint analysis. In the previous versions clicking on individual image files would open a new instance of WIM for each file. For example, the function Multi-Primary Production requires 3 input images. Unless they are in the same file, it is easiest to find the images with the Windows Explorer and read them into WIM by clicking (double-clicking). It is, of course, possible to use the File-Open dialog in WIM and it is convenient if the files are in the same folder as WIM remembers the previously used folders. If the image files are in different folders then most users prefer using Windows Explorer to navigating to them and load them into WIM by just clicking on the filename.
• Added the functionality of reading of the projection information for CZCS Level-2 files. These files have the separate "latitude" and "longitude" datasets similar to MODIS Level-2 files but the number of image pixels per latitude and longitude value is different.
• Enhanced the Transf - Binarize function by inheriting the window size and location for the output image.
  

WIM 6.11, May 2003

• Enhanced the Transf-Binarize function by allowing to set criteria on up to three images simultaneously to select pixels that satisfy the selected criteria. For example, with the the new binarize function you can find all pixels that are within a selected range in image #1 AND within a selected range in image #2 AND within a selected range in image #3. The dialog will remain open and the user can modify the criteria interactively until it is explicitly closed.
  
• Enhanced the Transf-Filter function (with Median, Mean and Sigma options) by allowing to process 2- and 4-byte-per-pixel images.

WIM 6.10, April 2003

• Fundamental revision of the WIM functions that draw image bitmaps. Former WIM versions had problems with very large images, usually starting with sizes 8196 x 4098 pixels, such as MODIS 4.6 km mapped global images. The colors suddenly turned weird and the image needed to be restored with a click on the Rebuild button of the List of Images. The revised version fixes that problem and image rebuilding is rarely needed.
  
• Enhanced the Multi-Primary Production function with options for the euphotic zone depth calculation (parameterized as a function of surface chlorophyll).
  
• Enhanced the Transf-Convert function with options for overflow control. For example, when a Byte image gets values over 255, these values will be normally truncated. With overflow control you can set a cap that will be used for all values over the maximum allowed value.
  
• Enhanced the Geo-Grid - either latitude or longitude grid can be disabled by using a negative step value.
  

WIM 6.09, March 2003

• Added function Save as PNG (Portable Network Graphics file).
• Adjusted several functions to recognize some MODIS attributes, e.g. Global Equal Angle projection for mapped Level 3 and Level 4 images, scaling attributes of Level 4 primary production images, etc.
• Fixed the Distance axis in Profiles function when profiles are top-down.
• Enhanced the Multi - Mask with Image function to allow masking of multi-byte images, also allow flexible masking depending on the pixel value of the mask image. For example, MODIS images have often a corresponding Quality flag image that shows the quality value of each pixel, e.g. good=0, 1=questionable, etc. User can select to create a new image with only certain masked pixels, e.g. the good pixels that are masked with quality=0.
  

WIM 6.08, February 2003

• Added function RGB Image to WAM. It is similar to the Examine - RGB Image function in WIM but allows to automate the generation of "true-color"-like RGB composites.
• Changed the output image type of Multi - Difference and Multi - Subtract Image to 4-byte Float.
• Added interpolation of MODIS latitudes and longitudes for the case when latitudes and longitudes are provided for a certain regular grid of pixels and not all pixels.
• Added latitude and longitude calculations of MODIS images when the latitudes and longitudes are provided as Int16 values with a Slope and Intercept.
  
• Enhanced the Save as Lat, Lon, Value for saving multiple images and of a selected rectangle in the same file. The user can first select a rectangle of interest and then pick a set of images in memory.
  
• Added recognition of some new types of MODIS files (subset files GSUB* and MODIS-Aqua files MY*).

WIM 6.07, December 2002

• Added a function for selectively copying attributes from one image buffer to another. This is useful, for example, when remapping an image to the projection of another image and creating a new remapped image. The problem of which attributes to get from the source image and which attributes from the target projection image is not easily solved automatically.
  
• Added functions for converting CoastWatch header parameters, including the geo-referencing parameters to HDF attributes, and for using those attributes in geo-referencing. When CoastWatch files are saved as HDF then the respective geo-referencing will be preserved when reading them back from HDF files.
  
• Added a GUI program wam_match to the selection of WAM programs. Wam_match is a complex program that finds match-ups between in situ and satellite data based on several criteria.
  
• Fixed a memory problem with WAM. WAM was not releasing unused memory for automatic garbage collection by the .NET Framework.

• Added support for scroll wheel. The most convenient way to scroll down and up an image inside an image window is now using the wheel on your mouse. Most new mice include this very convenient part.
  
• Added new functions to WAM: PerformOperation with a UnaryOperation takes an image and applies a user defined function to it; PerformOperation with a BinaryOperation takes two images and applies a user defined function to them. These 2 new functions are very powerful tools for transforming images in WAM. A WAM programmer only has to supply the function and PerformOperation applies it to all the pixels. A special version (Nullify) applies a simple transform that zeroes pixel values. Six new functions (GetInt16Attribute, GetFloat32Attribute, GetStringAttribute, SetInt16Attribute, SetFloat32Attribute, SetStringAttribute) read or write HDF attributes from WAM. Added constructors for creating new images of arbitrary pixel types.

• Added a new WIM input file type "Navoceano L3" that reads five global images (SST, number of points, SST anomaly, interpolated SST, interpolated SST anomaly) from a 18-km MCSST Level 3 (NAVOCEANO) images that are provided as weekly composites at ftp://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/pub/sea_surface_temperature/avhrr/navoceano_mcsst/data/L3/".
  
• Added the "Use Mask" option for Examine-Statistics. Statistics can now be calculated for any area of irregular shape. A mask image is convenient way to specify areas of interest that can be applied to a whole series of images in the same projection.

• Modified the "List of Images" dialog box by separating "File Name" from "Image Name".
  
• Added Examine - Statistics function to WAM.

• Added different options, selectable from a dialog box, to Multi - Primary Production.
  
• Added attributes (e.g. Units, Scaling, software version, etc.) to the calculated Primary Production image.
  
• Added Transf - Filter and Segm - Fill Holes functions to WAM.

• Added a new function Multi - Primary Production that calculates an image of phytoplankton net primary production (NPP, g C month-1) based on the Behrenfeld and Falkowski (1997) Vertically Generalized Production Model (VGPM) and using images of surface chlorophyll a concentration (Chl-a, mg m-3), incident photosynthetically active radiation (PAR, Einstein m-2 Day-1) and sea-surface temperature (SST, °C).
  
• Segment - Fill Holes modified to fill pixels with both 0 and 255. This function can be used to cover small areas of no data, e.g. due to clouds. Invalid pixels are most often assigned a value of 0 or 255 and by running this function several times it is possible fill small areas with valid pixel values.

• WIM version 5.41 is renamed to version 6.01 as it coincides with the release of the WIM Automation Module (WAM) that is a major addition to the tools available for WIM users. WAM allows batch processing, i.e. to automate repetitive tasks by writing simple programs (scripts). See a separate document on WAM.
  
• Added the Shift parameter as a recorded attribute (in HDF files) for storing projection information of the Global Equal Angle projection for, e.g. the OCTS sensor. This option is convenient when dealing with imagery covering both sides of the international dateline.
  
• Updated the View-Annotate function.

• For easy transfer of image data from WIM to various GIS packages we added the File - Save as Lat, Lon, Value ASCII (*.dat) option. It writes the whole image as a series of triplets of Latitude, Longitude, Value in ASCII text characters. The default is to save the Latitude first, followed by Longitude and the Value but Longitude can be made first, followed by Latitude and the Value by unchecking the "Lat first" checkbox in View - Special - Save As Lat, Lon, Value Format. The default formatting string is specified in View - Special - Save As Lat, Lon, Value Format as %6.4f %6.4f %6.4f\n and can be edited to suit your data. The same function can being used for selected Rectangles in the Vector Objects table.

• Added the Power Law band ratio in Multi - Band Ratio. Used often in empirical bio-optical algorithms of Chlorophyll or CDOM calculation form ocean color data.
  
• Added Transf - Decimal Exp (10^x) and Transf - Decimal Log (Log10(x))
  
• Improved File - Save as HDF for saving multiple image sets.

• Improved Multi - Composite to keep the compositing parameters from last operation and correctly set the Value Scaling of the results.
  
• Improved Transf - Filter to set the Value Scaling of the results.
  
• Improved Geo - Remap Proj to set the attributes of the source image.
  
• Added SeaDAS Mapped Image in Cylindrical Isotropic Projection to the set of projections automatically read from an HDF file.

• Improved Save as HDF. This function now saves all the
  selected image buffers in memory together with their Value Scaling and Color
  Scaling attributes. In the past it just copied the attributes from the
  original image, even if the image was converted to a different scaling. This
  function is now very convenient for saving a set of images including their
  scaling attributes to a single HDF file.
  
• Added functionality to Multi - Difference, Multi - Subtract
  Image, Multi- Divide w. Img, Multi - Multiply: They now work as expected
  with all different image buffers (e.g. INT16 and FLOAT). Fixed some problems
  with Transf - Convert. View - Annotate enhanced to work on FLOAT images.

• Added functions for reading NAVOCEANO Sea-surface temperature (SST) datasets distributed at a near real-time rate by NASA's Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center (http://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov/navoceano_mcsst/). WIM can either read an individual dataset (and convert it to a global image) or automatically make a composited (average) image when a set of multiple NAVOCEANO datasets is selected.
  
• Added the functionality of reading multiple images simultaneously. This is a big time saver when reading many images. To select a set of images highlight one image and then select a range of images with Shift-left-click or individual images with Control-left-click. After a set of images has been highlighted, click on the Open button of the dialog.
  
• Switched to Windows registry for keeping user preferences instead of the wim.ini file.

• Added functions for reading GSHHS (Global Self-consistent Hierarchical High-resolution Shorelines) shorelines format (Wessel and Smith, 1996). GSHHS files have extension *.b and include files in 5 different resolutions starting from crude (least accurate) and ending with full (most accurate). The resolution of the full GSHHS dataset is better than 100 m. When creating the overlay the user can choose the level of shorelines to include, e.g. whether to include only the land-sea shorelines, and/or lakes (inland water-bodies) or higher-level shorelines like islands in lakes, etc.
  

• Added options for reading Landsat TM Level-1G data from the GeoGratis website
  (an initiative of the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing). Landsat 7 data of selected scenes
  of Canada is freely available for downloading at http://geogratis.cgdi.gc.ca/Landsat7/hdf/. Geo-referencing of these files is currently done using the upper-left and lower-right coordinates in the productdescription.self file corresponding to the particular Landsat scene. Due to various nonlinearities and errors this geo-referencing is not very accurate and better methods may be introduced in the future.

• Added extensible list of symbols in PointTypes.xml (a text
  file in XML format) for showing Point objects in Geo -Tracking.
  It is now possible to show different sets of Points with different symbols.
  New symbols can be created and added to the extensible list by the user.
  Fixed problem with colors in Save as JPEG, Save as GIF.

• Added "Show Profiles" button to the Vector Objects table.
  Fixed some problems in Examine-Time Series, Edge-Dilate.

• Automatically setting proper value scaling for Terascan produced HDF files:
  Slope = scale_factor; Intercept = -add_offset * scale_factor. Previously WIM asumed that Terascan files had Intercept=0 and Slope = 0.01. Terascan files (*.tdf) are converted to HDF files using the Terascan filter tdftohdf.

• Fixed the problem with reading SeaWiFS Level-1A images from
  multi-dimensional SDS format HDF files. The capability of reading SeaWiFS
  Level-1A files was introduced in WIM 5.19 but had not been updated after the
  change of the SeaWiFS Level-1A format.

• Geo-Remap Proj - added the option of using the projection settings of another image.
  WIM has a large number of different projection types with each projection depending on a number of parameters. So far it was very difficult to map different images to a common projection. This addition makes the re-mapping tool easy to use. You can re-map any image (with a projection) into the projection of another image.

• Switched from HDF library version 4.1r1b to version 4.1 release 4.
  Although no immediate changes in WIM functionality are evident, it is hoped that the HDF functions in WIM are more stable by using the latest HDF4 library.

• Calibration of NOAA/AVHRR Level-1B images to percent albedo (channels 1-3) and
  temperature in C (channels 4-5) in the WIM Full version.
  The hard to use AVHRR Level-1B imagery can now be processed into real geophysical fields with WIM.

• Input functions for NOAA/AVHRR Level-1B files included in the Full version of WIM .

• Improved Examine - XY-Scatter allowing filtering and preview.
  Outliers due to clouds or other problems are common in many images.

• Adapted color scaling for MODIS Level-3 images.
• Geo-location for MODIS Level-2 images.
  MODIS level-2 geo-location uses separate images for latitude and longitude. If WIM does not find these in scientific datasets (SDS) of the image file, it prompts for another image with those SDSs.

• Introduced new scaling option Bitmask, new image type 4-byte integer, functions for viewing bitmask images (right-click) and creating masks from selected bits (flags) with Transf-Bitmask function. This is useful for new SeaWiFS Level-2 flag images.

• Projection information adjusted when doing Cut and Zoom, the adjusted parameters also saved as attributes in the saved HDF file or info-file.
• Save Profiles button in the Vector Objects table.
• Statistics for 3x3 window surrounding a Tracked Point in the Vector Objects table.

• Added new function Geo – Bathy Image that allows creating bathymetry images for any are in the world.

• The SeaWiFS mapped images in the SeaDAS Cylindrical projection can now be navigated in WIM. SeaDAS maps other than the Swath are based on IDL mapping routines and have not been compatible with WIM projections in the past.
• The Examine-RGB Image has been extended to be used with 2-bit-per-pixel (bpp) and 4-bpp images.
• Fixed bugs in the Multi-Composite function.

• You can now open images by just clicking (or double-clicking, depending on your setup) on the file. Similarly, you can open an image file using the right-click – Send to … or the right-click – open with … options. The right-click – open with … option is new in Windows 2000. In order to use the right-click – Send to … option you have to create a shortcut to the WIM executable (either wimle.exe or wim.exe) in your Profiles/USERNAME/Send to folder.

• Reading of SeaWiFS Level-1A images from multi-dimensional SDS format HDF files.
  Fixed errors in initializing the SeaWiFS Swath projection.

• Automatic image resize when the image does not fit into the WIM window.
• The first image is resized to fit into the WIM window, subsequent images are resized to the same size as the current image.
• Reading of NASA/NOAA Oceans Pathfinder (PODAAC) subset SST files. Projection set to Linear with the coefficients calculated from HDF attributes, value scaling set to SST-Pathfinder.

• View - Vector Objects enhanced with Add, Edit, Save, Statistics functions.
• New functions Geo - Read Vector Objects, Geo - Unify Vector Objects.
• The Save and Read functions use HDF files for storing vector objects.
• Reading of NASA/NOAA Oceans Pathfinder (PODAAC) version 4.1 SST files implemented.

• New function View-Vector Objects that integrates points, transects and rectangles imported with Geo-tracking.

• New, enhanced toolbar with hovering color shift. View-Attributes icon on Toolbar.
• Options for writing into image buffer in Geo-Distance and Geo-Tacking.
• Angles saved in Geo-Distance.
• Fixed Window resize when changing color scaling and Geo-Tracking.

• Add, Edit, Delete functions for HDF attributes.
• Save as HDF selectable image buffers.
• HDF attributes handling with multiple images of the same name.

• Page setup for printing images.
• Histogram for 2 and 4 bpp images.
• Revised HDF attributes, View-Attributes (modified from View-File Metadata), keep all previous attributes.
• Generalized Logarithmic (and Linear) value scaling.
• Automatic scaling of HDF images (according to Scaling, Slope, Intercept attributes).

• Image window resize modification.
• NEC image type in Lambert Conic projection.
• Enhanced Geo-Distance.
• Transf-Binarize, Transf-Mirror, Transf-Reduce for 2 and 4 bpp images.

• Selective reading of SDS’s from HDF file.
• Adjustments to read PO-DAAC’s MCSST and Pathfinder global SST products.

• Geo –Tracking revised and enhanced. Saving statistics of selected points, transects or rectangular areas as well as points along a transect.
• Simplified reading of the SeaWiFS Level 3 standard mapped images (automatically setting the projection to Global Equal Angle and Value scaling to Chl.
• Examine – Statistics revised.
• Save As- HDF saves the projection and other auxiliary information for SeaWiFS i