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I'm having trouble in importing MODIS .hdf data in GRASS GIS. When I use r.in.gdal it returns me this error:

ERROR: No raster bands found in </Volumes/Maxtor/TESI_satellite_imagery/IMMAGINI_DI_PARTENZA/serie_storica_estate_dic2015-feb2020/modis/MOD02QKM.A2019044.1415.061.2019045012150.hdf>.

I've tried to uninstall and reinstall gdal on my computer (S.O. MacOS Catalina), and rebuild all the bindings with python, but I didn't manage to solve the issue. I used Homebrew and followed its instructions to do it. I've also tried to use conda previously, but it has issues while "solving the environment" and cannot complete the procedure. What am I doing wrong?

I've also tried the i.modis.import, but I get this error

ERROR: pymodis library is not installed.

I can't understand where this comes from, since if I run pip install pymodis or pip3 install pymodis on the terminal it says:

Requirement already satisfied: pymodis in ./opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.8/site-packages (2.0.9) Requirement already satisfied: future in ./opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.8/site-packages (from pymodis) (0.18.2) Requirement already satisfied: requests in ./opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.8/site-packages (from pymodis) (2.24.0) Requirement already satisfied: GDAL in ./opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.8/site-packages (from pymodis) (3.1.3) Requirement already satisfied: numpy in ./opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.8/site-packages (from pymodis) (1.18.5) Requirement already satisfied: urllib3!=1.25.0,!=1.25.1,<1.26,>=1.21.1 in ./opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.8/site-packages (from requests->pymodis) (1.25.9) Requirement already satisfied: certifi>=2017.4.17 in ./opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.8/site-packages (from requests->pymodis) (2020.6.20) Requirement already satisfied: idna<3,>=2.5 in ./opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.8/site-packages (from requests->pymodis) (2.10) Requirement already satisfied: chardet<4,>=3.0.2 in ./opt/anaconda3/lib/python3.8/site-packages (from requests->pymodis) (3.0.4)

How can I solve this problem?

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7
  • Do you know that your .hdf file is OK? Can you open it with any other software? Could you share a link to the image?
    – user30184
    Commented Nov 2, 2020 at 15:10
  • No, I didn't try to open the file with other softwares, but I've tried to open several other files to check if the issue was in the file or somewhere upstream (which I think is the case). I'll try to open it with QGIS too to make a double check, thank you for the suggestion. Here's a link to one of the images I've tried drive.google.com/file/d/11NLMG0ZqXkwNthb6CHNBZT47oUjQeg0u/…
    – F.H.
    Commented Nov 2, 2020 at 15:47
  • Conversion with GDAL succeeds with gdal_translate -of gtiff HDF4_EOS:EOS_SWATH:"MOD02QKM.A2019044.1415.061.2019045012150.hdf":MODIS_SWATH_Type_L1B:EV_250_RefSB hdf.tif. Notice the usage with a subdataset. Use gdalinfo for showing the names of the subdatasets.
    – user30184
    Commented Nov 2, 2020 at 16:42
  • Thank you very much for checking that the problem doesn't lay in the file. I think that my problem lays in my gdal itself, something must have impeded a correct installation. I'll try to repeat the uninstallation-reinstallation procedure.
    – F.H.
    Commented Nov 2, 2020 at 18:10
  • 1
    Is is now clear for you that .hdf file is more like a dictionary for GDAL? The bands are not in the main .hdf file for GDAL but they are in the subdatasets as gdalinfo reports them. Or do you mean that gdalinfo MOD02QKM.A2019044.1415.061.2019045012150.hdf does not list subdatasets for you?
    – user30184
    Commented Nov 2, 2020 at 20:27

2 Answers 2

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2

Just to summarize from the comments:

gdalinfo shows the different HDF datasets as

Subdatasets:
  SUBDATASET_1_NAME=HDF4_EOS:EOS_SWATH:"MOD02QKM.A2019044.1415.061.2019045012150.hdf":MODIS_SWATH_Type_L1B:EV_250_RefSB
  SUBDATASET_1_DESC=[2x8120x5416] EV_250_RefSB MODIS_SWATH_Type_L1B (16-bit unsigned integer)
  SUBDATASET_2_NAME=HDF4_EOS:EOS_SWATH:"MOD02QKM.A2019044.1415.061.2019045012150.hdf":MODIS_SWATH_Type_L1B:EV_250_RefSB_Uncert_Indexes
  SUBDATASET_2_DESC=[2x8120x5416] EV_250_RefSB_Uncert_Indexes MODIS_SWATH_Type_L1B (8-bit unsigned integer)
  SUBDATASET_3_NAME=HDF4_SDS:UNKNOWN:"MOD02QKM.A2019044.1415.061.2019045012150.hdf":0
  SUBDATASET_3_DESC=[2030x1354] Latitude (32-bit floating-point)
  SUBDATASET_4_NAME=HDF4_SDS:UNKNOWN:"MOD02QKM.A2019044.1415.061.2019045012150.hdf":1
.....

Then you can import a single dataset into an unprojected XY Location with the command:

GRASS 7.8.4 (XY):~/work/tmp > r.in.gdal input=HDF4_SDS:UNKNOWN:"MOD02QKM.A2019044.1415.061.2019045012150.hdf":1 output=sds1
No projection information available
Importing raster map <sds1>...
 100%

If you want to reproject the MODIS datasets in advance then these steps might help: First use gdal_translate to create a VRT (should automatically contain the GCP's). Then gdalwarp to the projection that you want, using the "thin plate spline" option. And finally import into a GRASS Location defined by that same projection. i.e.

gdal_translate -of VRT HDF4_EOS:EOS_SWATH:"MOD02QKM.A2019044.1415.061.2019045012150.hdf":MODIS_SWATH_Type_L1B:EV_250_RefSB eos.vrt
gdalwarp -t_srs EPSG:4326 -tps eos.vrt eos.tif
# Switch to a WGS84 Location, and import
g.mapset location=WGS84 map=PERMANENT
r.in.gdal input=eos.tif output=eos
Importing 2 raster bands...
Importing raster map <eos.1>...
 100%
Importing raster map <eos.2>...
 100%
r.info eos.1
 +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 | Map:      eos.1                          Date: Tue Nov  3 20:52:04 2020    |
 | Mapset:   PERMANENT                      Login of Creator: micha           |
 | Location: WGS84                                                            |
 | DataBase: /home/micha/GIS/grass                                            |
 | Title:                                                                     |
 | Timestamp: none                                                            |
 |----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
 |                                                                            |
 |   Type of Map:  raster               Number of Categories: 0               |
 |   Data Type:    CELL                                                       |
 |   Rows:         7278                                                       |
 |   Columns:      9389                                                       |
 |   Total Cells:  68333142                                                   |
 |        Projection: Latitude-Longitude                                      |
 |            N: 12:08:47.681048S    S: 33:12:58.502358S   Res: 0:00:10.42193 |
 |            E: 47:24:22.942618W    W: 74:35:14.462442W   Res: 0:00:10.42193 |
 |   Range of data:    min = 367  max = 65534                                 |
 |                                                                            |
 |   Data Description:                                                        |
 |    generated by r.in.gdal                                                  |
 |                                                                            |
 |   Comments:                                                                |
 |    r.in.gdal input="eos.tif" output="eos" memory=300 offset=0 num_digit\   |
 |    s=0                                                                     |
 |                                                                            |
 +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

g.mapset location=WGS84 map=PERMANENT
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4
  • Thank you very much, @Micha, your answer will be very useful once I'll manage to solve the issue I have with GDAL itself. Maybe I wasn't able to explain myself correctly in the comments above, I apologize for that. What I was trying to say is that for some reason my computer did not recognize GDAL basic commands as gdalinfo. Now after formatting my mac, it does not even manage to install GDAL, as during the installation (performed with conda install -c conda-forge gdal) it finds several packages conflicts. Do you have any idea of why it happens and how I can solve it?
    – F.H.
    Commented Nov 4, 2020 at 10:36
  • I found a way to procede with the installation by creating a separate environment (as user Christopholis suggested at stackoverflow.com/questions/33574902/install-gdal-using-conda). Now I can run gdalinfo on the terminal, but there is still a problem: I noticed that it returns me less subdatasets that it does with you (for the same file), as it finds only the first 2 subdatasets. Does it mean that there's still something wrong in the installation?
    – F.H.
    Commented Nov 4, 2020 at 10:54
  • I don't know anything about gdal on a Mac. What version of gdal are you getting ? (gdalinfo --version). Maybe post on a Mac specific forum.
    – Micha
    Commented Nov 5, 2020 at 9:12
  • The version I got is 3.2.0. Thank you for the suggestion, I'll look for a specific forum and ask for help there.
    – F.H.
    Commented Nov 5, 2020 at 10:16
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What works for the installation of gdal:

  1. install Anaconda
  2. created a separate environment: conda create -n gdal python=3.8
  3. activate the environment: conda activate gdal
  4. install inside the environment gdal: conda install -c conda-forge gdal
  5. exit the environment once finished using it: conda deactivate

The easiest way to use hdf files: install the HEG conversion tool by NASA. It allows both to convert the file into several formats and several reprojection options. Easiest way to access the metadata: install the HDFview tool by NASA. This worked better than gdal_translate, because the latter couldn't handle correctly some reprojection (it generated some weird artefacts, like horizontal stripes all over the tile), while the HEG tool managed to reproject all of my scenes correctly. I suggest to use the geographic reprojection, because using the UTM directly didn't gave a realistic result. I used the geographic and did a second rerojection within GRASS GIS.

I hope it helps anybody who'll face the same problems I had.

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