From GIS to Remote Sensing

Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin version 9 officially released

2026-02-20T15:37:00.000+01:00

I'm glad to announce the release of the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin version 9 (codename "Foundation").

This new version is compatible with QGIS 4 (based on Qt 6 framework).

Until QGIS 4 is officially released, in order to try the new Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin you can install the prerelease (QGIS 3.99 master).

The following is the changelog:

new version for QGIS 4
built on the new Remotior Sensus version 0.6
new simplified interface designed for new users
added automatic download of Remotior Sensus if library is not available or outdated
in the Working toolbar added button to open a Copernicus Browser link at QGIS map coordinates
in the Working toolbar added buttons to show or hide custom layers or groups by name also using keyboard shortcuts Z, X, and C
in Download products added option to create band set
various bug fixing

Announcing the development of the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin version 9

2025-12-26T18:18:00.001+01:00

I'm glad to announce that the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin version 9 (codename "Foundation") is under development.

Information about the USGS Spectral Library Data Download

2025-03-23T13:36:00.000+01:00

This post is about recent updates to the USGS Spectral Library Data Download.

Recently the USGS has removed the previous Spectral Library download service and the new download information is at https://www.usgs.gov/media/files/usgs-spectral-library-data-download-information-docx , which describes the download of the whole archive as a .zip file.

Consequently, the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin tool to Download USGS Spectral Library can't work.

However, it is still possible to import the USGS libraries using the Import tool.

Following the main steps to import a library:

download the main archive ASCIIdata_splib07a.zip from https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/586e8c88e4b0f5ce109fccae
create a directory and move one spectral library (name ending with _AREF.txt) and the wavelengths file (file name splib07a_Wavelengths_ASD_0.35-2.5_microns_2151_ch.txt) in it
create a .zip file of this directory which can be imported in SCP.

For any comment or question, join the Facebook group or GitHub discussions about the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin.

Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin major update: version 8.5

2024-11-16T13:20:00.000+01:00

The Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin (SCP) has been updated to version 8.5.0.

Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin major update: version 8.4.0

2024-11-01T00:52:00.001+01:00

The Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin (SCP) has been updated to version 8.4.0.

Tutorial: Random Forest Classification Using the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin

2024-09-16T08:00:00.148+02:00

This is a tutorial about the land cover classification using the Random Forest algorithm in the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin (SCP).

Please note that the installation of the dependency scikit-learn is required (see Plugin Installation). It is assumed that you have already read the Basic Tutorials.

Following the video tutorial.

Partecipate to the Translation of the User Manual and Interface of the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin

2024-08-24T09:00:00.001+02:00

The new version 8.3 of the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin (SCP) has been recently released, which enables the localization of the user interface.

I invite you to partecipate to the translation of the user manual and the SCP interface to your language. Also, I would like to thank the 190 persons who already joined the translation project.

Your contribution is fundamental for every user who doesn't speak English. It also can be a fun way to learn more about the SCP.

Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin major update: version 8.3.0

2024-08-03T00:04:00.003+02:00

The Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin (SCP) has been updated to version 8.3.0.

This new version requires Remotior Sensus to be updated to at least version 0.4.0.

During the update process of SCP from version 7 to version 8, several tools were excluded in order to give priority to the main plugin functions.

With this 8.3.0 update, several tools are reintroduced, such as Clustering tool for unsupervised classification (K-means method), the Spectral distance tool, the Edit raster tool, and the Raster zonal stats.

Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin version 8.3 release date

2024-07-21T13:00:00.002+02:00

This post is to announce that the new version 8.3 of the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin (SCP) for QGIS will be released the 3rd of August 2024.

This new version will require the new version 0.4 of the Python processing framework Remotior Sensus, and will include several new features such as such as clustering, raster editing and raster zonal stats.

For any comment or question, join the Facebook group or GitHub discussions about the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin.

Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin major update: version 8.2.0

2023-12-10T15:12:00.004+01:00

The Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin (SCP) has been updated to version 8.2.0 which is focused on the download of new products.

This function requires Remotior Sensus to be updated at least to version 0.2.01, which also includes several new products from the Microsoft Planetary Computer.

Microsoft Planetary Computer is a platform developed by Microsoft to foster environmental sustainability and Earth science through a Data Catalog, a JupyterHub and several other tools.

In this case, Remotior Sensus connects to the Data Catalog to search and download images available from Microsoft Planetary Computer, such as the Landsat archive, MODIS, and Sentinel-2.

Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin update: version 8.1.7

2023-12-08T17:42:00.000+01:00

The Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin (SCP) has been updated to version 8.1.7 which solves a few bugs and adds the options to download Sentinel-2 images from the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem.

Downloading free satellite images using the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin: the Download product tab

2023-11-05T16:10:00.000+01:00

This is part of a series of video tutorials focused on the tools of the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin (SCP).

In this tutorial, the Download products tab is illustrated, which allows for downloading free satellite images such as Landsat and Sentinel-2.

You can find more information in the user manual at this link.

Following the video tutorial.

For any comment or question, join the Facebook group or GitHub discussions about the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin.

Call for the Translation of the User Manual and Interface of the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin

2023-10-28T15:29:00.002+02:00

The new version 8 of the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin (SCP) has been recently released, along with the updated user manual.

I kindly invite you to translate the user manual and the program interface to your language. Your contribution is fundamental for every user who doesn't speak English. It also can be a fun way to deeply learn about the SCP.

Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin update: version 8.1

2023-10-26T14:13:00.004+02:00

The Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin (SCP) has been updated to version 8.1 which solves a few bugs and in particular ease the installation of required dependencies.

This update automatically tries to install the required library Remotior Sensus in the plugin directory, if it is not already installed in the QGIS environment, which allows for using the main functions of SCP.

However, it is still recommended to follow the installation instructions to download the required dependencies.

Moreover, an alternative Windows installation using the OSGeo4W network installer has been added to the user manual

https://semiautomaticclassificationmanual.readthedocs.io/en/latest/installation_win64_network.html

Also, the user manual describes the installation in macOS

https://semiautomaticclassificationmanual.readthedocs.io/en/latest/installation_mac.html

and Linux

https://semiautomaticclassificationmanual.readthedocs.io/en/latest/installation_debian.html

With this update the installation should work in most cases.

For any comment or question, join the Facebook group or GitHub discussions about the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin.

Managing input bands using the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin: the Band set tab

2023-10-22T23:46:00.002+02:00

This is the first of a series of video tutorials focused on the tools of the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin (SCP).

In this tutorial, the Band set tab is illustrated, which allows for managing input bands.

You can find more information in the user manual at this link.

Following the video tutorial.

For any comment or question, join the Facebook group or GitHub discussions about the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin.

Basic Land Cover Classification Using the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin

2023-10-14T17:55:00.001+02:00

This is the first tutorial of the new Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin version 8.

This tutorial describes the essential steps for the classification of a multispectral image (i.e., a modified Copernicus Sentinel-2 image):

Define the Band set and create the Training Input File
Create the ROIs
Create a Classification Preview
Create the Classification Output

Following the video of this tutorial.

The detailed steps of this tutorial are described in the user manual, at the following link

https://semiautomaticclassificationmanual.readthedocs.io/en/latest/tutorial_1.html

I am going to write other tutorials to describe the available classification algorithms, and the other tools of the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin.

For any comment or question, join the Facebook group or GitHub discussions about the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin.

Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin version 8 officially released

2023-10-08T00:42:00.010+02:00

I am glad to announce the release of the new version 8 (codename "Infinity") of the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin (SCP) for QGIS.

This new version is based on a completely new Python processing framework that is Remotior Sensus, which expands the processing capabilities of SCP, also allowing for the creation of Python scripts.

The following video provides an introduction to the SCP tools.

Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin version 8 release date and dependency installation

2023-10-01T19:49:00.005+02:00

This post is to announce that the new version 8 (codename "Infinity") of the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin (SCP) for QGIS will be released the 8th of October 2023.

This new version is based on a completely new Python processing framework that is Remotior Sensus, which will expand the processing capabilities of SCP, also allowing for the creation of Python scripts.

The SCP requires Remotior Sensus, GDAL, NumPy and SciPy for most functionalities. Optionally, scikit-learn and PyTorch are required for machine learning. GDAL, NumPy and SciPy should already be installed along with QGIS.

It might be useful to illustrate the installation steps of these dependencies before SCP is released.

Road to the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin v.8: Landsat and Sentinel-2 images download and preprocessing, classification

2023-09-02T11:10:00.004+02:00

This is the second post describing the main new features of the new version 8 (codename "Infinity") of the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin (SCP) for QGIS, which will be released in October 2023.

The new version is based on Remotior Sensus, a new Python processing framework.

The tool "Download products" has been updated to download Landsat and Sentinel-2 images from different services. In particular, through the service NASA Earthdata (registration required at https://urs.earthdata.nasa.gov) it will be possible to download the Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2 which are surface reflectance data product (generated with Landsat 8, Landsat 9, and Sentinel-2 data) with observations every two to three days at 30m spatial resolution (for more information read here). This is therefore a great source for frequent and homogeneous monitoring.

Moreover, Copernicus Sentinel-2 images will be searched through the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem API, while the images are downloaded through the Google Cloud service that provides the free dataset as part of the Google Public Cloud Data program.

Other download services that were available in SCP 7 (e.g. Sentinel-1, ASTER images) will be available with future updates.

Road to the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin v.8: Band sets, Band calc and Scripts

2023-08-26T00:10:00.003+02:00

As already announced, the new version 8 (codename "Infinity") of the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin (SCP) for QGIS will be released in October 2023.

This post describes a few main new features of the SCP, which is still under development, based on a completely new Python processing framework that is Remotior Sensus.

The Main interface will include all the tools, as in SCP version 7. The Band set tab will allow to manage more than one Band set; the interface has been restyled with a table on the left to manage the list of Band sets, and the larger table on the right to display the bands of the active band set.

Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin v.8 Release Date

2023-07-03T01:15:00.000+02:00

I am glad to announce that the new version of the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin (SCP) for QGIS will be released in October 2023.

This new version will improve the capabilities of SCP, based on a completely new Python processing framework that is Remotior Sensus, developed for image classification, machine learning and GIS spatial analyses.

For any comment or question, join the Facebook group or GitHub discussions about the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin.

From GIS to Remote Sensing wishes you a Very Happy New Year!

2023-01-01T11:44:00.003+01:00

I wish you all a Very Happy New Year!

In 2023 there will be many updates and improvements related to the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin (SCP) for QGIS 3.

I'm glad to announce the start of the development of the new SCP version 8 that will be hopefully released in the second half of 2023.

This update will bring major improvements to the capabilities of SCP, based on a completely new processing framework (more details in a specific post soon) allowing for machine learning and direct use in Python scripts.

I want to thank to all the people who have contributed to the SCP, through their work translating the interface and the user manual, fixing bugs and reporting issues.

Again, very happy new year!

Major Update: Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin v. 7.10.0

2021-10-10T11:41:00.006+02:00

This post is about a new update of the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin v. 7.10.0.

Following the changelog:

-added option to Download products for downloading as virtual raster the portion of the image defined with search coordinates (for Landsat and Sentinel-2)

-Stack raster bands can now export virtual raster if output extension is .vrt

-in Batch the function create_bandset if the option date is 'auto' it tries to get the date of the image from the directory name

-in Band set list added button to sort Band sets by date if defined

-fixed Scatter plot

-fixed Band combination

-small fixes to Clip multiple rasters

New publication about the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin in the Journal of Open Source Software

2021-08-27T19:59:00.007+02:00

I am very glad to announce that the paper "Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin: A Python tool for the download and processing of remote sensing images in QGIS" has been published in the prestigious Journal of Open Source Software.

Image Conversion to Reflectance using the Semi-Automatic Classification Plugin version 7

2021-08-01T22:45:00.007+02:00

This tutorial is about the image conversion to Radiance at the Sensor’s Aperture or to Top Of Atmosphere (TOA) Reflectance. It is assumed that one has the basic knowledge of SCP and Basic Tutorials.

SCP includes several tools for preprocessing images such as Landsat, Sentinel-2, Sentinel-3. Using satellite images from various sources could require the preprocessing and radiometric correction.

Usually, remote sensing images are delivered as calibrated Digital Numbers (DN), and the conversion to radiance or reflectance can be performed through parameters that are provided with the image.

This tutorials aims to describe how to perform the conversion to TOA reflectance of remote sensing images. The calculation can be performed for all the bands at once in Band calc, knowing the required parameters.

Following the video of this tutorial.