NLCD Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

          IMPORTING FLAT LAND COVER FILE INTO ERDAS IMAGINE

The land cover files are flat files, i.e., they are headerless files 
containing only image information.  They are all unsigned 8-bit,
sometimes called "BYTE" data.  To import the data into Imagine, you
need to know the number of lines, samples, and bands in your input
data.  The land cover data sets are all one band.  Lines and samples
can be found towards the end of the "readme" files that accompany
each land cover product.  Once you have this information, you can
proceed as follows:

1 -- Click on the "IMPORT" button on the main Imagine menu bar.

2 -- The Import/Export dialogue box will appear.  Make sure that the
     button next to "Import" is highlighted at the top of this dialogue.

3 -- For "Type:", use the drag-down menu to select "Generic Binary".

4 -- For "Media:", use the drag-down menu to select "File" (assuming
     the data is currently stored on a hard drive you have access to).

5 -- Under "Input File:", select the flat land cover file that you
     wish to import.

6 -- Under "Output File:", enter a new file name for your ERDAS version
     of the flat file.  Make sure you enter a new file name.  If you
     enter the name of a file that already exists, it will be deleted.

7 -- Click on "OK", and a new dialogue box entitled "Import Generic
     Binary Data" will appear.  

8 -- For "Data Type:", use the drag-down menu to select "Unsigned 8 Bit"
     (This is usually the default).

9 -- For "# Bands:", enter "1".

10-- For "# Rows:", enter the number of lines as found in your readme file.

11-- For "# Cols:", enter the number of samples as found in your readme file.

12-- That's it!  You are ready to click "OK" to begin importing the file.

Note that you are importing just the image data, the information in the readme
file (projection information, class names, etc) is NOT imported.  Projection 
information may be entered for the imported image through the "Image Information"
dialogue.  Once your image is displayed in an Imagine viewer, you may enter
class names and assign class colors through the "Attribute Editor" dialogue
(found under the "Raster" drag-down menu of the viewer).