The ASTER Scene Locator functions similar to ESRI's Arc Explorer. The following page will outline the basic steps to on how to use the locator.

Tool Bar

Below is a brief description of what each tool does.

Navigation

There are many tools to help you navigate, the following is a brief description on how to navigate through the extents and layers.

Zooming: To zoom in simply click on the magnifying glass with the "+" then either click in the location you wish to zoom in or drag a rectangle over the location to zoom to a certain extent. The zoom out tool works in the same manner as the zoom in tool, either click on the location or drag a rectangle.

There are shortcuts to zooming also. To zoom out to the entire map simply click on the magnifying glass with the three yellow layers behind it. This will bring the full extent of the map to view. In addition you can also zoom to the extent of any layer. To do so you must first make a layer active by selecting the appropriate radio button in the layer window. Once the layer is active you want to click on the magnifying glass with two yellow layers and one red layer. This will bring you to the full extent of the active layer you have selected.

Panning: There are two options to pan. One you can click on the hand and use it to click on the map and drag to the location you wish to view. Or two you can use the blue arrows to shift the map over half a screen in any direction.

Selecting

Selecting allows you to obtain attribute information about several objects at once. In addition it enables you to create buffers for analysis on other objects.

There are two options for selecting: select by rectangle and select by polygon. To select simply choose the select by method which best suits your needs. Then activate the layer in the legend from which you want to select. Based on your select by method either click on one object or drag over the layer. After you've dragged over or clicked on objects you wished to select they will turn yellow. If you need to unselect all your objects simply click on the eraser in the tool bar.

Identify

To retrieve a scene ID or other attribute information simply click on the information button in the tool bar. Make sure the scene layer is active by clicking on the appropriate radio button in the layer window. Click on a feature (ie, a scene) to display the attributes.. If by chance there are scenes overlapping one another where you clicked, attributes for all the scenes will be displayed.

Querying

Querying is a useful and easy tool for selecting scenes based on criteria found in the attributes. The first step is to activate a layer and open the following frame by clicking on the query tool in the tool bar.

Next you want to enter your query criteria. To do this simply select a field in the left column, then an operator, and finally a value. Once you have all the criteria set you click execute.

When the query is complete a list of all the scenes matching your criteria is displayed in the box and selected on the screen.

To save a list of the results to a text file click on the disk and select a location to save to.

To unselect the scenes when done simply click on the eraser in the tool bar.

Buffering

Buffering alows you to select features from one layer that are within a specified distance of features in another layer. The first step to buffering is to make the layer active which contains the features you wish to buffer around. The second step is to select those features from the active layer you wish to buffer around.

The second step of buffering involves opeing the buffer window. To do this click on the buffer button on the toolbar. This will open a frame where you will set your buffer distance and the layer you wish to select from.

Once you have clicked ok you will notice that the features are now selected within the buffer you set.

Remember, clicking on the on the eraser in the toolbar will unselect all