Abstract:
The HDF-EOS Imaging Tool (EOS-IT) is a dual mode interface that provides an
easy way to compare and analyze data from a variety of data sets. In the first
mode, called Georeferenced Viewing, the tool reads any file containing data in
swath or Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area grid projection and displays these data
in multiple linked, georeferenced Image
... Windows. Using the Georeferenced
Viewing mode, you can also view core metadata and structural metadata, overlay
coastlines in zoom windows, and see a range of data cells in a table marked by
pixel location in the corresponding image. In the second mode, called Bitwise
Viewing, it reads HDF-EOS grid and swath data and allows you to examine
individual bits from data fields in those files. The two modes can be used
simultaneously.
The two modes of EOS-IT provide greater functionality than other HDF tools
currently available. Other tools have a limited ability to decode and display
information stored as individual bits. Many MODIS products, for example, have
pixel-level quality assessment arrays in one or more 8-bit words. Most
visualization programs read and display these arrays as 1-byte words with 256
possible values. EOS-IT allows you to select and view the information in each
bit separately or in user-specified combinations. To make EOS-IT cross-platform
compatible, it was written in Interactive Data Language (IDL). Users must have
IDL 5.6 installed to run EOS-IT.
The National Snow and Ice Data Center distributes the EOS-IT tool to assist
users working with polar gridded data sets in HDF-EOS, including the MODIS
Level 3 sea ice product.
(http://nsidc.org/data/tools/eosit/) 
