Raster Data

Vesta imports and works with raster (grid-based) data such as satellite imagery, elevation, and gridded climate variables, alongside your vector datasets.

Importing Raster Data

Raster files are imported the same way as any other file, through the Add Data hub — Vesta detects a GeoTIFF or IMG file as a raster grid automatically. See Data File Format for supported raster formats.

Raster data is also available directly from online sources, including MODIS satellite imagery (land-surface temperature and vegetation index), OpenTopography elevation, and WorldClim bioclimatic variables — see Online Data Sources. Importing MODIS data returns an analysis-ready, time-stacked raster already in your project's working coordinate system; large imports are handled without running out of memory.

Color Tables

Color information traveling alongside a raster file is read automatically at import, so categorical bands arrive already labeled and colored, without needing to be styled by hand afterward.

Raster Variables

A raster variable can be converted between continuous and categorical, the same as any other variable. Classification and histograms work on continuous rasters the same way they do on other continuous variables.

Raster Map Layers

A raster can be drawn as a map layer alongside your other data, with gaps in the raster left transparent so layers beneath it remain visible. Any pixel can be queried directly for its value, and rasters can be charted quickly the same way other variables are. See Creating a Map.

Raster Pixel Time Plot

For a time-varying raster, click or drag on the map to track a single pixel or a region, and see its values plotted across the full time range — with a context mini-map and an animation timeline.