ERDAS

ERDAS is a geospatial software company known for its focus on remote sensing, raster and vector GIS, and enterprise geospatial data management. The name ERDAS stands for Earth Resource Data Analysis System, reflecting its origins in processing satellite and aerial imagery for resource assessment and analysis.

The company is best known for ERDAS Imagine, a desktop software package used to process, analyze, and visualize optical and radar imagery. Imagine supports tasks such as radiometric and geometric corrections, image classification, change detection, mosaic creation, and pan-sharpening to produce high-quality geospatial products. In addition, ERDAS markets ERDAS APOLLO, an enterprise geospatial data management and delivery platform designed to store, catalog, and serve large geospatial datasets to desktop, web, and mobile clients through standards-based services.

ERDAS has undergone corporate changes over its history and is now part of Hexagon AB via its Hexagon Geospatial division. The integration positions ERDAS products alongside other Hexagon offerings for remote sensing, photogrammetry, and geospatial analytics, and aligns them with a broader portfolio of spatial data infrastructure and visualization tools.

Applications of ERDAS software span many sectors, including natural resource management (forestry, mining, agriculture), environmental monitoring, urban planning, disaster response, and defense. Common workflows involve image orthorectification, feature extraction, classification, and integration with traditional GIS platforms to support mapping, analysis, and decision making.