Assembling QuickBird, WorldView, or Pleiades tiles

Due to the size limitations of CDs, QuickBird and WorldView Ortho Ready Standard images and Pleiades images may be delivered to you as image tiles with RPC data. The RPC data is used with the rational functions math models and covers the entire scene, not the individual tiles. Therefore, you must reassemble the tiles into one scene before using it in your project.

The scene can be separated into a regular block of tiles, such as a five-by-five block, or it can be separated into an irregular block, such as tiles following the path of a river. Regardless of how the tiles are organized, you need only enter one of the tiles for OrthoEngine to locate all those tiles related.

You must also determine the number of rows and the number of columns that form the assembled scene. You can do so by examining the file names of the tiles. The file name contains an R*C* value that defines the tile's row and column number; for example, R2C3 indicates row 2, column 3. The highest R number in the file name typically defines the total number of rows in the assembled scene. The highest C number in the file name typically defines the total number of columns in the assembled scene.

The following table shows sample file names, highlighting the R*C* value.

Tile	File name
QuickBird	04SEP14160330-M2AS_`R1C1`-000000154204_01_P001.TIF
WorldView	10AUG16191818-M2AS_`R1C1`-052406976020_01_P001.TIF
Pleiades	IMG_PHR1A_MS_201202250025599_SEN_IPU_20120504_1737-003_`R1C1`.JP2

Note: The RPC file is a text file that provides the coefficients to define the rational functions math model for the scene.

To assemble QuickBird, WorldView, or Pleiades tiles

In OrthoEngine, start an Optical Satellite Modeling project with one of the following options:
- Toutin's Model
- Ration Function (Extract from image)
In the OrthoEngine window, on the Tools menu, click Assemble Tiles.
The Assemble Tiles window appears.
In the Number of rows box, type or select the number of rows that form the assembled scene.
In the Number of columns box, type or select the number of columns that form the assembled scene.
In the Sample tile field, type the path and file name of one of the tiles or, to select a file and folder, click Browse.
With QuickBird and WorldView, the format of the tile file is either TIF (.tif) or NTF (.ntf) file. With Pleiades, the format is TIF (.tif) or JP2 (.jp2).
In the Output filename box, type the path and file name to which to write the assembled scene or, to select a file and folder, click Browse.
Click Assemble.
The tiles are assembled into a single scene.