ESDS Program

GeoTIFF

Summary

OGC GeoTIFF Standard is an OGC Implementation Standard. GeoTIFF is based on the TIFF format and is used as an interchange format for georeferenced raster imagery. GeoTIFF is in wide use in NASA Earth science data systems.

There are other scientific file formats that are well established within the NASA community, such as HDF5 and netCDF. However, there is continued interest and demand for the GeoTIFF file format, mostly as a distribution format for satellite or aerial photography imagery and for other kinds of data such as Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data and Digital Ortho Quadrangle data.

Status

OGC GeoTIFF 1.1 is an approved NASA Earth Science Data Systems standard.

NASA ESDIS recommends the use of Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF (COG) for any data distribution that would be appropriate for a traditional GeoTIFF. COG files are fully backward compatible with all tools that are used in the reading of GeoTIFFs. Using COG files allows those with access to cloud-based computing environments to have all the benefits of the expanded COG format without limiting those still using traditional tools.

See ESDS-RFC-049 Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF.

Specification OGC GeoTIFF Standard, Version 1.1, OGC Document 19-008r4
Published September 14, 2019
ESCO RFC ESDS-RFC-040v1.1 - GeoTIFF File Format
User Resources Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF
A GeoTIFF profile that enables efficient access in a cloud computing environment.

OGC GeoTIFF GitHub Repository
Contains specification text and issues reported and/or under consideration for next version.

NASA Datasets Available in Cloud Optimized GeoTIFFs
An annotated list of NASA Datasets

Open Source Software implementations of GeoTIFF
  • libgeotiff - This library is designed to permit the extraction and parsing of the GeoTIFF Key directories, as well as the definition and installation of GeoTIFF keys in new files. libgeotiff serves as the basis for many other software packages that can read or write GeoTIFF files
  • geotiff.js - Read (geospatial) metadata and raw array data from a wide variety of different (Geo) TIFF files types
  • rasterio - Rasterio reads and writes GeoTIFF and other formats and provides a Python API based on N-D arrays

NASA Earth Science Community Recommendations for Use

Strengths

The GeoTIFF file format is in widespread use worldwide. NASA DAACs provide data in GeoTIFF format as do other NASA Earth science data providers. There is strong software support in the form of the open source libgeotiff library and Geospatial Data Abstraction Library (GDAL) package. Many commercial GIS and spatial data analysis software products support reading and writing GeoTIFF data.

Weaknesses

While the GeoTIFF format provides for a tremendous amount of interoperability as evidenced by its widespread use within NASA and elsewhere, there is room for further discussion about how to increase interoperability. Work on this topic continues in NASA's Dataset Interoperability Working Group (DIWG) as part of the larger Earth Science Data System Working Group effort within NASA's ESDIS Project.

Applicability

The GeoTIFF file format was developed primarily as a distribution format for satellite or aerial photography imagery as well as for other kinds of data such as Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data and Digital Ortho Quadrangle data.

Limitations

GeoTIFF is not necessarily suitable for every data type. There are other scientific file formats that are well established within the NASA community, e.g., HDF5 and netCDF, that are approved for use in NASA Earth science data systems.

GeoTIFF is not suitable for storing complex multi-dimensional data structures nor for storing vector data with many attributes or topology information.

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