File, Open Menu

Use this menu option (popup from File menu), or the icons on the main toolbar, to open a data set. You must understand the types of data and select the correct one.

The program forces you to select the type of data because:

Some data formats, like Geotiffs, could be either DEMs or imagery, and nothing in the file or its metadata makes this apparent. The program needs to know the type of data, because it supports different menu choices depending of the data's characteristics.
The program originally had completely different display operations for DEMs and imagery. While this has mostly been replaced with a common map window, the data structures for a DEM and an image remain quite distinct.
In the early days of GIS and remote sensing, completely different programs were used for the two operations, and that philosophy still has some remnants in the MICRODEM source code.

Open project--will close all open data and windows
Add project--keeps any already open maps.
Open Grid/DEM
Open and merge DEMs--pick multiple DEMs in a single directory, and merge them on the fly. To merge from multiple directories, use map library database
Open and merge DEM directories: pick the directories you want. Cancel when you have them all the directories you want.
Open DEM/grid without map
Open image
Open Landsat/Sentinel-2 multiband image: particularly good for Sentinel-2 which buries the image files many directories deep
Open scanned map: while this generally behaves like an image, it does not allow contrast enhancement and similar operations which can have have bad effects.
Open GeoPDF (US topo; may not work with other versions)
- Layers you selected, each map in separate window
- Just imagery layers
- All layers in separate GeoTiffs
- Merge maps
Open Landcover: while this generally behaves like an image, it does not allow contrast enhancement and similar operations which can have have bad effects
Open and merge Geotiffs
Open image with multiple bands. It is not error-trapped; you must insure
- All bands must be integer values
- They must have the same number of rows and columns, data spacing, and conver the same area
- They will be in alphabetical order
Open Vector Map
Open TIGER county map
Open shape file map--open blank map and display shape file filling the display area.
Open US States maps
Open US counties map
Open LAS point clouds
Open other point clouds
Open hyperpectral imagery
Open multigrids
- by Directory
- Pick files
Open climate onlty monthly multigrids
Open lidar matched grids
Open Landsat multigrids
Open google maps
Open database without map
Annapolis harbor: bathymetry grid and 3 nautical charts

Last revision 3/11/2020