Georeference your Imagery with Didger

Posted on March 4, 2011 by leslie

Google Earth is great resource for viewing and acquiring imagery of the earth. Using the File |
Save Image command from Google Earth allows you to save earth images as a .jpg file. These
images, however, are not georeferenced. You can georeference images in Didger and then use
the spatially referenced images in Surfer! I will show you how to save an image from Google
Earth, georeference the image in Didger, and then load the georeferenced image into Surfer.
1. Open Google Earth and select the location of your choice. I will use the Search function
and search for the Pyramids of Egypt, and then choose File | Save Image.

2. Next open Didger and choose File | Import to import the .jpg file.

3. The Image Registration and Warping dialog window will open. The Zoom In icon
can be used to zoom into the top of the most northern

4.
5.

6.
7.
8.
9.

pyramid.
Select the Calibration Point icon and click the top of the pyramid.
Return back to Google Earth and zoom in to the top of the northern pyramid and select
the Add Placemark icon
and place it on top of the pyramid. A Google Earth dialog
window will open with the Latitude and Longitude values.
Back in Didger in the Calibration Points worksheet enter the Longitude in the cell under
Reference X and the Latitude in the cell under Reference Y of row 1.
Repeat steps 3 through 6 for the remaining three points, making a box that spans most of
the image.
When you have finished selecting the four calibration points and entering the correct
Latitude and Longitude select OK.
If the picture looks funky or warped at all you may want to re-import the image and
trying calibrating again. Zooming in more both in both Didger and Google Earth will

increase the accuracy of your points, and also avoid having the points to close together or

in a linear fashion.
10. Once you are satisfied with the image from Didger select File | Export and save as a .tif
file. In the TIF dialog window ensure that you are saving the spatial reference
information and that Geo TIFF format is checked.

11. You can now open Surfer and select Map | New Base Map to import the .tif file.
12. Then select the base map in the Object Manager and in the Property Manager select
the Coordinate System tab.
13. Select the Set button next to Coordinate System, and in the Assign Coordinate System
dialog expand the Predefined section and the Geographic (lat/lon) section and choose the
World Geodetic System 1984 and then select OK.

14. You will then get a Surfer Error message, select OK. Then select Map in the Object
Manager and in the Property Manager select the Coordinate System tab. Select the
Change button next to Coordinate System and in the Assign Coordinate System dialog
choose World Geodetic System 1984 and then select OK.
You have now properly assigned the correct coordinate system to your image and you can begin
to make edits and add other relevant spatial information to your map!

Georeference an image in Surfer 10 using

internal points
Posted on March 15, 2012 by leslie
Have you ever had an image that you wanted to georeference in Surfer, but you didnt have the
coordinates for the bottom left and top right corners? Not to worry, as long as you know the
coordinates of two points within the image you can still georeference your image in Surfer!

Heres an example of how to do so:

1. In Google Earth get the coordinates of two points interior to the image. Mark them with
pins, take a screenshot of the image, and record the latitude and longitude (in decimal
degrees) in cells C2-5 of this spreadsheet.
2. In Surfer, go to Map | New | Base Map. Select your screenshot and click Open.

3. Click on the Base Map and then hover your mouse over Point 1. Take a screenshot or
record the X and Y values as cells C7-8. Repeat for Point 2 and cells C9-10.

4. With Base selected in the Object Manager, go to the Base Map tab in the Property
Manager. Record the xMax, yMax, xMin, and yMin as cells C12-15 in the spreadsheet.

5. Cells C17-20 should automatically calculate.

6. Type the values from cells C17-20 into xMin, yMax, xMin, and yMin in the Base
tab of the Property Manager.
You have now successfully georeferenced
your image in Surfer 10, and all without
knowing the coordinates of the image
corners!