VRT processed dataset

Added in version 3.9.

A VRT processed dataset is a specific variant of the VRT -- GDAL Virtual Format format, to apply chained processing steps that may apply to several bands at the same time.

The following built-in algorithms are introduced, and may typically be applied in the following order:

LocalScaleOffset: apply per-pixel gain and offset coming (typically subsampled) from auxiliary datasets. Can be used for dehazing processing.
BandAffineCombination: perform an affine transformation combination of bands.
Trimming: apply local thresholding of saturation
LUT: apply a look-up table (band per band)

More algorithms can be registered at run-time with the GDALVRTRegisterProcessedDatasetFunc() function`

Here's an example of such a file to apply various correction to a R,G,B,NIR dataset:

<VRTDataset subClass="VRTProcessedDataset">
  <Input>
    <SourceFilename relativeToVRT="1">source.tif</SourceFilename>
  </Input>

  <ProcessingSteps>
    <Step name="Dehazing">
      <Algorithm>LocalScaleOffset</Algorithm>

      <Argument name="relativeToVRT">true</Argument>

      <Argument name="gain_dataset_filename_1">gains.tif</Argument>
      <Argument name="gain_dataset_filename_2">gains.tif</Argument>
      <Argument name="gain_dataset_filename_3">gains.tif</Argument>
      <Argument name="gain_dataset_filename_4">gains.tif</Argument>
      <Argument name="gain_dataset_band_1">1</Argument>
      <Argument name="gain_dataset_band_2">2</Argument>
      <Argument name="gain_dataset_band_3">3</Argument>
      <Argument name="gain_dataset_band_4">4</Argument>

      <Argument name="offset_dataset_filename_1">offsets.tif</Argument>
      <Argument name="offset_dataset_filename_2">offsets.tif</Argument>
      <Argument name="offset_dataset_filename_3">offsets.tif</Argument>
      <Argument name="offset_dataset_filename_4">offsets.tif</Argument>
      <Argument name="offset_dataset_band_1">1</Argument>
      <Argument name="offset_dataset_band_2">2</Argument>
      <Argument name="offset_dataset_band_3">3</Argument>
      <Argument name="offset_dataset_band_4">4</Argument>

      <Argument name="nodata">0</Argument>
      <Argument name="min">1</Argument>
      <Argument name="max">10000</Argument>
    </Step>

    <Step name="Linear combination">
      <Algorithm>BandAffineCombination</Algorithm>
      <Argument name="coefficients_1">0,1.2,-0.2,0.0,0.0</Argument>
      <Argument name="coefficients_2">0,-0.03,1.03,0.0,0.0</Argument>
      <Argument name="coefficients_3">0,0.0,0.0,1.0,0.0</Argument>
      <Argument name="coefficients_4">0,0.0,0.0,0.0,1.0</Argument>

      <Argument name="min">1</Argument>
      <Argument name="max">10000</Argument>
    </Step>

    <Step name="Trimming">
      <Algorithm>Trimming</Algorithm>
      <Argument name="relativeToVRT">true</Argument>
      <Argument name="trimming_dataset_filename">trimming.tif</Argument>
      <Argument name="tone_ceil">10000</Argument>
      <Argument name="top_margin">0</Argument>
      <Argument name="top_rgb">10000</Argument>
    </Step>

    <Step name="LUT">
      <Algorithm>LUT</Algorithm>
      <Argument name="lut_1">
          0:0,10000.0:255
      </Argument>
      <Argument name="lut_2">
          0:0,10000.0:255
      </Argument>
      <Argument name="lut_3">
          0:0,10000.0:255
      </Argument>
      <Argument name="lut_4">
          0:0,10000.0:255
      </Argument>
    </Step>
  </ProcessingSteps>

  <VRTRasterBand dataType="Byte" band="1" subClass="VRTProcessedRasterBand">
    <ColorInterp>Red</ColorInterp>
  </VRTRasterBand>
  <VRTRasterBand dataType="Byte" band="2" subClass="VRTProcessedRasterBand">
    <ColorInterp>Green</ColorInterp>
  </VRTRasterBand>
  <VRTRasterBand dataType="Byte" band="3" subClass="VRTProcessedRasterBand">
    <ColorInterp>Blue</ColorInterp>
  </VRTRasterBand>
  <VRTRasterBand dataType="Byte" band="4" subClass="VRTProcessedRasterBand">
  </VRTRasterBand>
</VRTDataset>

.vrt format

The VRTDataset root element must have a subClass="VRTProcessedDataset" attribute.

The following child elements of VRTDataset may be defined: SRS, GeoTransform, Metadata. If they are not explicitly set, they are inferred from the input dataset.

VRTRasterBand elements may be explicitly defined, in particular if the data type of the virtual dataset after all processing steps is different from the input one, or if the number of output bands is different from the number of input bands. If there is no explicit VRTRasterBand element, the number and data types of input bands are used implicitly. When explicitly defined, VRTRasterBand elements must have a subClass="VRTProcessedRasterBand" attribute. ` It must also have the 2 following child elements:

Input, which must have one and only one of the following SourceFilename or VRTDataset as child elements, to define the input dataset to which to apply the processing steps.
ProcessingSteps, with at least one child Step element.

Each Step must have a Algorithm child element, and an optional name attribute. The value of Algorithm must be a registered VRTProcessedDataset function. At time of writing, the following 4 algorithms are defined: LocalScaleOffset, BandAffineCombination, Trimming and LUT.

A Step will generally have one or several Argument child elements, some of them being required, others optional. Consult the documentation of each algorithm.

LocalScaleOffset algorithm

Apply per-pixel gain and offset coming (typically subsampled) from auxiliary datasets. Can be used for dehazing processing.

The gain and offset auxiliary datasets must have a georeferencing consistent of the input dataset, but may have a different resolution.

The formula applied by that algorithm is: output_value = clamp(input_value * gain - offset, min, max)

The following required arguments must be specified:

gain_dataset_filename_{band}: Filename to the gain dataset, where {band} must be replaced by 1 to the number of input bands.
gain_dataset_band_{band}: Band number corresponding to gain_dataset_filename_{band}, where {band} must be replaced by 1 to the number of input bands.
offset_dataset_filename_{band}: Filename to the offset dataset, where {band} must be replaced by 1 to the number of input bands.
offset_dataset_band_{band}: Band number corresponding to offset_dataset_filename_{band}, where {band} must be replaced by 1 to the number of input bands.

The following optional arguments may be specified:

relativeToVRT: Whether gain and offset filenames are relative to the VRT. Allowed values are true and false. Defaults to false
min: Clamp minimum value, applied before writing the output value.
max: Clamp maximum value, applied before writing the output value.
nodata: Override the input nodata value coming from the previous step (or the input dataset for the first step).
gain_nodata: Override the nodata value coming from the gain dataset(s).
offset_nodata: Override the nodata value coming from the offset dataset(s).

BandAffineCombination algorithm

Perform an affine transformation combination of bands.

The following required argument must be specified:

coefficients_{band}: Comma-separated coefficients for combining bands where {band} must be replaced by 1 to the number of output bands. The number of coefficients in each argument must be 1 + number_of_input_bands, where the first coefficient is a constant, the second coefficient is the weight of the first input band, the third coefficient is the weight of the second input band, etc.

The following optional arguments may be specified:

src_nodata: Override the input nodata value coming from the previous step (or the input dataset for the first step).
dst_nodata: Set the output nodata value.
replacement_nodata: Value to substitute to a valid computed value that would be equal to dst_nodata.
dst_intended_datatype: Intended datatype of output (which might be different than the working data type). Used to infer an appropriate value for replacement_nodata when it is not specified.
min: Clamp minimum value, applied before writing the output value.
max: Clamp maximum value, applied before writing the output value.

Trimming algorithm

Apply local thresholding of saturation, with a special processing of the R,G,B bands compared to other bands.

The pseudo algorithm used for each pixel is:

// Extract local saturation value from trimming image
localMaxRGB = value from TrimmingImage
reducedRGB = min ( (1-top_margin)*top_rgb/localMaxRGB ; 1)

// RGB bands specific process
RGB[] = get red, green, blue components of input buffer
maxRGB = max(RGB[])
toneMaxRGB = min ( toneCeil/maxRGB ; 1)
toneBand[] = min ( toneCeil/RGB[] ; 1)

output_value_RGB[] = min ( reducedRGB*RGB[]*toneBand[] / toneMaxRGB ; topRGB)

// Other bands processing (NIR, ...): only apply RGB reduction factor
Trimmed(OtherBands[]) = reducedRGB * OtherBands[]

The following required arguments must be specified:

trimming_dataset_filename: Filename of the trimming dataset. It must have one single band. It must have a georeferencing consistent of the input dataset, but may have a different resolution.
top_rgb: Maximum saturating RGB output value.
tone_ceil: Maximum threshold beyond which we give up saturation.
top_margin: Margin to allow for dynamics in brighest areas (between 0 and 1, should be close to 0)

The following optional arguments may be specified:

relativeToVRT: Whether the trimming dataset filename is relative to the VRT. Allowed values are true and false. Defaults to false
red_band: Index (one-based) of the red band. Defaults to 1.
green_band: Index (one-based) of the green band. Defaults to 1.
blue_band: Index (one-based) of the blue band. Defaults to 1.
nodata: Override the input nodata value coming from the previous step (or the input dataset for the first step).
trimming_nodata: Override the nodata value coming from the trimming dataset.

LUT

Apply a look-up table (band per band), typically to get from UInt16 to Byte data types.

The following required argument must be specified:

lut_{band}: List of the form [src value 1]:[dest value 1],[src value 2]:[dest value 2],..... {band} must be replaced by 1 to the number of bands.

The intermediary values are calculated using a linear interpolation between the bounding destination values of the corresponding range. Source values should be monotonically non-decreasing. Clamping is performed for input pixel values outside of the range specified by the LUT. That is, if an input pixel value is lower than the minimum source value, then the destination value corresponding to that minimum source value is used as the output pixel value. And similarly for an input pixel value that is greater than the maximum source value.

The following optional arguments may be specified:

src_nodata: Override the input nodata value coming from the previous step (or the input dataset for the first step).
dst_nodata: Set the output nodata value.