Hello John,

> Theoretical question to follow up on Steven's comment:
>
> Is it theoretically possible to devise a good compression
> algorithm which does
> NOT lose high-frequency information?

Yes, depending on your definitiion of "good".  It's certainly possible to
have high-quality compression for high-frequency information.  But it
becomes very difficult to do generic high-ratio compression without losing
high-frequency information - usually around 4-6:1 is the limit for
"lossless" wavelet-based compression (ie, maintain the exact data).

> I have always had the same problem that Steven has obviously had
> - I need the
> high frequencies.
>
> It seems likely to me that it would be almost impossible to
> achieve any high
> degree of compression and keep the high frequencies.

Generally yes, but it depends a lot on the data.  With something like
seismic/mag/rm/dem data it might be possible as the data is fairly "smooth"
and contains a lot of redundant data.  1-2bit data (eg, scanned topo maps)
is a snap for something simple like Run Length Encoding and you might get
50-100:1 in some cases.  ECW is primarily aimed at compressing Airphotos
where it's generally acceptable to loose a lot of high-frequency data
without noticable visual artifacts, however it's usefulness for other types
of data really depends on your application.

regards

--
Simon

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> Are there any expert opinions out there?
>
> John
>
> John Berry Assocs - Remote Sensing Services
> 5000 Beverly Hills Drive, AUSTIN, TX 78731
> Ph: +1-512-452-8068  Fx:  +1-512-452-8068
> Mo: +1-512-293-8068
> e-mail:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: SR McMullan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 2002 8:20 AM
> Subject: RE: Importing TIF files
>
>
> > Hi Bartley,
> >
> > It sounds like the files you are importing are compressed
> (probably with LZW
> > compression). ER Mapper only stores the full image matrix,
> which may be much
> > larger as you have discovered. Try saving the resulting image using ECW
> > compression, which is a bit lossy but much more manageable file sizes.
> >
> > To see how much fidelity is lost with ECW compression, try
> compressing then
> > uncompressing the image, then subtract the compressed/uncompressed image
> > from the original. I did some experimentation with this when
> ECW was first
> > released and I was losing some valuable high frequency
> information which is
> > not acceptable in our applications, so I still use the full fidelity
> > uncompressed images.
> >
> > Good luck, and happy imaging!
> >
> > SRM.
> >
> > Steven R. McMullan, P.Geo.
> > Principal Geophysicist
> >
> > Poseidon Geophysics (Pty) Limited
> > Plot 3423 Matima Crescent Extention 12
> > Private Bag X018
> > Gaborone, Botswana
> >
> > Tel +267 351 612
> > Cell +267 71 300 820
> > Fax +267 300 787
> > E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Personal E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > [mailto:ermapper-l-owner@;ermapper.com]On Behalf Of Bartley Doyle
> > Sent: 09 October 2002 01:44 PM
> > To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]'
> > Subject: Importing TIF files
> >
> >
> > Hi all,
> > I have imported some TIF files (1Mb each in size - B&W). The
> resulting image
> > file sizes are 200Mb!
> > Can you tell me if there is a way of (batch preferrably)
> importing these TIF
> > to a much smaller file size (say 1Mb each)?
> > Regards,
> > Bartley
> >
> >
> >
> > **********************************************************************
> > Bartley R. Doyle
> > Compass Informatics
> > Tel:   +353-1-6705761 / 087-2902343
> > Fax:  +353-1-6703037
> > Eml: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Pst: 19 Nassau Street, Dublin 2, Ireland
> >
> > Visit www.compass.ie !
> > And enter the Compass GeoShop at www.compass.ie/geoshop/.
> >
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