The VGTExtract tool is a simple, user-friendly free tool originally made by VITO in the frame of the VGT4Africa project, but has since been maintained and extended in the frame of the DevCoCast project, with support from Geoland2. It is used to simplify and automate the integration of basic and derived SPOT-VEGETATION products in a variety of GIS and Remote Sensing end-user software for further analysis, post-processing or visualization.

Why is this tool useful?
A variety basic and derived SPOT-VEGETATION products are distributed by VITO and its partners under license from CNES (for basic products like NDVI) or in a variety of projects such as VGT4Africa (FP6), Geoland2 (FP7) and DevCoCast (FP7), and through various channels such as web and FTP sites, EUMETCast satellite broadcast and fixed media.
The products are usually distributed in the form of zipped archives that consist of one or more data files in HDF 4 or 5 file format, a text or XML file containing the product′s metadata, a copyright document and a Quick Look Tiff image. They can cover the entire world, entire continents like Africa and South-America or individual countries, regions or 10°x10° tiles.
The format and geographic coverage is not always what the end-user requires, in order to feed his tools. The VGTExtract tool fills the gap between what is delivered, and what the African and Latin American EO-experts need.

VGTExtract searches for VGT products in a given directory and its subdirectories. For each product found, VGTExtract can automatically unpack (uncompress) the product and perform the following actions on the resulting unzipped HDF data files:

1. Recognizing, grouping and mosaicing the 10°x10° tiles produced in the frame of Geoland2
2. Extracting sub-regions by
   1. either selecting one of the predefined countries and regions.
   2. or by defining a custom Region of Interest (ROI).
3. Reformatting the products into the following formats:
   1. ASCIIGrid
   2. HDF4
   3. ENVI
   4. ER-Mapper
   5. GeoTiff
   6. IDRISI
   7. ILWIS
   8. Raw binary
   9. Tiff
4. And Encoding the different datasets in a specific product with scale and offset.

This tool can be executed both in GUI-mode (via a Graphical User Interface) as in batch mode (command line, for automation). More information: VGTExtract User Guide.

Free download here:
For Windows: VGTExtract version without the Java virtual machine.
For Windows: VGTExtract version with the Java virtual machine.
For Linux: VGTExtract version without the Java virtual machine.
For Linux: VGTExtract version with the Java virtual machine.

Important note:
VGTExtract requires a Java virtual machine (JVM) to run. Users are advised to download and install the version of VGTExtract with JVM. The installer will allow you to install a JVM or to use a JVM that is already installed on your computer.
The VGTExtract version without Java virtual machine, which requires an installed JVM to run, is only provided here for users with limited download capacity.