The viStaMPS tool for visualization and manipulation of time series interferometric results

In the last decade, Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR) has become operational as a technique that allows remote detection of deformation at the Earthʹs surface. Analysis of time series of SAR images extends the area where InSAR can be successfully applied and also permits detection of smaller displacements through the reduction of error sources. Stanford Method for Persistent Scatterers (StaMPS) InSAR implementation, which is based on the processing of multi-temporal SAR data, is widely used for ground deformation monitoring. This is due mainly to its proven reliability and freeware distribution among the scientific community. However, some issues can make the interpretation of the results a difficult task: StaMPS supports data processing based on command prompt, which increases the difficulty of usage by users not familiar with the specific programming language that supports StaMPS. Moreover, several visualization tasks are not implemented in the standard approach requiring that each user develop its own code for visualization and interpretation purposes. In this paper, we present viStaMPS, a new visual application developed to enhance the visualization, manipulation and exportation of StaMPS results. The programmed application is developed in Matlab through the Graphical User Interface (GUI) and no coding is required for running it, which avoids any programming language knowledge for standard uses. The included graphical interface is very versatile allowing the user to choose among several features: visualization, manipulation and exportation of data which are not available in the original StaMPS.