1. Before starting ER Mapper, open Windows Explorer (Start/Run/explorer) and copy from the Z drive to your W drive the following files:  NewStateCollege.alg, sce2.ers, and sce2.

*Please note that the files are around 14 MB, and since space is limited on the W drive, it would be nice if only one data set per group was copied

2. After starting ER Mapper, open the “NewStateCollege.alg” file (should be saved on your W:\ drive).

3. From the “Edit” pull-down menu (located on the main “ER Mapper” toolbar), choose, “Edit/Create Regions …”

4. The “New Map Composition” dialogue box should appear.  Use the template below for the appropriate “Mode” and “Load from File:” options:

5. Choose “OK” on the “New Map Composition” dialogue box.

6. Before proceeding, from the “File” pull-down menu (located on the main “ER Mapper” toolbar), choose, “Save As …”  Within the “Save As …” dialogue box, save the “NewStateCollege.alg” file as “SupervisedSC.alg” (or whatever you wish to name it).  Be sure your “Files of Type:” is set to “ER Mapper Algorithm (.alg).”  Choose “OK.”

7. From the “Tools” palette, choose the polygon tool (see “A” in the figure below).  Begin drawing your training sites.  Be sure to properly apply your training-site landcover-type designations (e.g. urban, forest, etc.).  See the tutorial “Supervised Classification” to assign colors and names to your polygons.

8. When you have completed creating and annotating your training-site polygons, press the “Map Composition Save As” tool button.  Within the “Map Composition Save As” dialogue box, “Save As” as “Raster Region.”  “Save To File:” W:\sce2.ers (see figure below).  Choose “OK.”  When asked whether you wish to overwrite the existing “W:\sce2.ers” file, choose “OK.”

9. An “ER Mapper – Message Window” should appear, similar to the one below:

10. You may close both “ER Mapper – Message Window” and “Tools” windows.  Note that, when you close the “Tools” window, your polygons should contain labels (e.g. urban, forest, etc.).

11. You are now ready to calculate your statistics.  From the “Process” pull-down menu (located on the main “ER Mapper” toolbar), choose, “Calculate Statistics …”  From the “Calculate Statistics” dialogue box, replicate the figure below:

12. A “Calculate Statistics – Status” window will appear, documenting the process of your statistics calculations.  Eventually, a pop-up box will appear, telling you that your statistics have been successfully calculated.  Choose “OK” on the pop-up box.  Close the “Calculate Statistics – Status” window.

13. NOTE:  There is a section in the “Supervised Classification” tutorial that instructs you to delete your “Region Layer (Outline)” layer.  You have the option of doing this, but do not feel compelled to do so.  You can simply turn it off instead.  By keeping this layer, you can simply update it for future training-site regions (i.e. adding, deleting, or changing training-site polygons).  To edit this layer later, simply choose the “Edit” pull-down menu from the “ER Mapper” main menu.  Choose “Annotate Vector Layer …” or “Edit/Create Regions …” (either one will work!) from the pull-down menu.  You should now see a “Open map Composition” window similar to the one below (choose “OK” and your “Tools” palette should appear):

14. You are now (finally!) ready to perform your supervised classification.  From the “Process” pull-down menu (located on the main “ER Mapper” toolbar), choose, “Classification” then “Supervised Classification …”  From the “Supervised Classification” dialogue box, replicate the figure below (Note that the “Classification Type” is up to you, but you must be able to justify your decision in your write-up!  The “Output Dataset” can be any filename of your choosing.):

15. Choose “OK” and your supervised classification will be under way.  A “Supervised Classification – Status” pop-up box will appear, documenting the status of your supervised classification.  Wait until it says “Finished.  Closed Connection.”  Additionally, a “Supervised Classification” pop-up box will appear stating that your supervised classification has finished successfully.  Close both pop-up boxes.

16. In order to display your supervised classification, it is easiest to utilize an existing San Diego (remember that place?) layer and file.  Keeping your “SupervisedSC.alg” (or whatever you have named it) window open, choose the “New Window” button on the “ER Mapper” main menu.  From the “File Open” button on the “ER Mapper” main menu, choose the “C:\ERMapper60\examples\Miscellaneous\Templates\Common\Classified_data.alg” file.  If your “Algorithm” window is not already open, please open it.  Click on the “Load Dataset” icon and load your newly-classified image (in this case “W:\SC_max_like_std.ers” or whichever name you chose).

17. You can now edit your landcover colors.  Choose “Edit” from the main “ER Mapper” menu.  Choose “Edit Class/Region Color and Name …” from the pull-down menu.  A dialogue box should appear, similar to the one below:

18. Allow the image to cool on the counter for two hours.  Spread frosting evenly over each landcover class, and enjoy!  Be sure to share this recipe with your friends and family.