WISER Documentation

WISER Documentation#

WISER (Workbench for Imaging Spectroscopy Exploration and Research) is an open-source, cross-platform GUI for visualizing and analyzing hyperspectral imagery. Built in Python on Qt/PySide2, it runs on macOS, Windows, and Linux with no commercial license required.

Developed and maintained by the Ehlmann Research Group at Caltech & CU Boulder. For any questions, contact wiser_AT_lists.lasp.colorado.edu.

Key capabilities:

  • Load, display, and navigate hyperspectral and multispectral raster data

  • Click any pixel to view and collect its spectrum in a live spectral plot

  • Regions of Interest (ROIs) for area-averaged spectra and pixel exports

  • Contrast stretch and color mapping for display control

  • Band math with custom expressions and plugin-defined functions

  • Analysis tools: PCA, Spectral Angle Mapper, Continuum Removal, Scatter Plot, Minimum Noise Fraction, K-means, and more

  • Georeferencing and coordinate system management

  • Extensible plugin system (Tools Menu, Context Menu, Band Math)

Sample Datasets#

WISER natively opens several hyperspectral and spectral-library formats, and can fall back to any format supported by GDAL for additional coverage.

Natively supported formats

  • ENVI raster (*.img, *.hdr)

  • TIFF / GeoTIFF (*.tiff, *.tif, *.tfw)

  • NetCDF (*.nc)

  • JPEG 2000 (*.JP2)

  • PDS raster (*.PDS, *.img, *.lbl, *.xml)

  • ENVI spectral libraries (*.sli, *.hdr)

  • GDAL-readable formats — any format that GDAL can open (e.g. HDF4/5, GRIdded Binary, COG, and more)

Example datasets to try

The following publicly available datasets are good starting points for exploring WISER:

Subscribe to Email Updates#

To receive notifications about new WISER releases, send an email to wiser-announce-request@caltech.edu with the subject line Subscribe. Follow the instructions in the reply to confirm your subscription.

Installation#

Download WISER#

Pre-built installers for macOS, Windows, and Linux are available at: ehlmann.caltech.edu/wiser

Download the installer for your platform and follow the on-screen instructions. Users can also download and install WISER from GitHub Releases.

Note

The download location will change in a future release as WISER transitions to CU Boulder. Links on this page will be updated when that happens.

Running from Source#

If you want to run WISER from source or contribute to development, see the Developer Environment Setup guide.

In brief:

cd etc
make install-dev-env          # macOS/Linux
conda activate wiser-dev
cd ../src
python -m wiser

Supported Platforms#

WISER builds currently target:

  • macOS 15 — ARM (Apple Silicon) and Intel

  • Windows 10/11

  • Linux — Ubuntu 20.04+, Debian 11+, Fedora 39+ (amd64 and aarch64)

System Requirements#

The minimum and recommended specifications for running WISER are:

Operating system

  • Windows: Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit)

  • macOS: macOS 15 or newer (Intel and Apple Silicon)

  • Linux: Ubuntu 20.04+, Debian 11+, or Fedora 39+ (amd64 and aarch64)

Hardware

  • CPU architecture: x86_64 (Intel/AMD) or arm64 (Apple Silicon / aarch64)

  • Memory: 8 GB minimum; 16–32 GB recommended for large datasets

  • Storage: ~1 GB for installation; SSD strongly recommended

  • GPU: Not required

If you encounter issues building or running WISER, please open a GitHub Issue.

Where to Go Next#

User Manual

Interface Overview · Working with Data · Spatial Tools

Extend WISER

Build plugins to add custom workflows, context-menu operations, and band-math functions — no rebuild required.

Developer Guide

Environment Setup · Contributing & Code Quality · Testing & QA

Get Help

License

Copyright 2019–2026, California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and Regents of the University of Colorado. All rights reserved. See the LICENSE for the full text.