Workbench for Imaging Spectroscopy Exploration and Research (WISER)

WISER software for analysis of imaging spectroscopy data was developed by the Ehlmann Research Group in collaboration with the Caltech Schmidt Academy for Software Engineering. The lab is moving to CU boulder, so we are migrating this website to lasp.colorado.edu/ehlmann-lab/wiser/.

Interested in contributing to this software as a developer? Please read our contributing guide. You can also visit the GitHub here.

Documentation

Read our most up-to-date documentation here!

Download

Are you a non-commercial user interested in downloading WISER? Please fill out the request form.

What is WISER?

Imaging spectroscopy datasets contain spectral information, sometimes at hundreds of wavelengths or more, for each spatial pixel. These spectra provide compositional information at every pixel. Commercial software for analysis of imaging spectroscopy datasets requires expensive licenses, and there is a community need for free software that can be modified and expanded to meet the requirements of today's cutting-edge research. This is precisely the gap that WISER aims to fill. Read about WISER's motivation and vision here and learn more about using the software here.

WISER is built in Python and is designed to be modular and extensible. We encourage users to build plugins that enhance the functionality for the broader imaging spectroscopy community. Learn more about some of the current capabilities on this page.

For additional background, explore WISER's abstracts presented at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) and the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Annual Meeting, as well as a poster presented at the EMIT Technical Interchange Meeting.

Also, check out our beginner exercise sheet and advanced exercise sheet to learn more about how to use WISER.

Conference Abstracts & Poster Presentations

Garcia-Kimble, J., Greenberger, R. N., Pinkston, D., Nea, D., & Ehlmann, B. L. (2025). WISER - A FREE CUSTOMIZABLE, EXTENDABLE VISUALIZATION AND ANALYSIS TOOL FOR IMAGING SPECTROSCOPY DATA (Abstract #GC31F-0752). In AGU Fall Meeting 2025. New Orleans, LA. View poster (PDF)

Greenberger, R. N., Pinkston, D., Wang, A., Azad, S., Mueller, J., Baker, S., Keebler, A., Scheller, E. L., Thompson, D. R., & Ehlmann, B. L. (2023). The Workbench for Imaging Spectroscopy Exploration and Research (WISER): A customizable, extendable visualization and analysis tool for imaging spectroscopy data (Abstract #2360). In 54th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC 2023). The Woodlands, TX. View here

Garcia-Kimble, J., & Ehlmann, B. L. (2025). WISER: A Workbench for Imaging Spectroscopy Exploration and Research. In EMIT Technical Interchange Meeting. Pasadena, CA. View poster (PDF)

Planned Software Enhancements

Visit our GitHub issue tracker for up-to-date information on what we are working on.

Subscribe to email list

To receive email updates about new software releases, please email wiser-announce-request_AT_caltech.edu with the subject Subscribe. Follow the instructions in the reply to confirm your subscription.

Licensing

Read our license here.

Contact

For any questions, please contact us at wiser_AT_lists.lasp.colorado.edu.

People

Leadership: Bethany Ehlmann, Rebecca Greenberger, David Thompson
Software developers: Matthew Maclay (current), Joshua Garcia-Kimble (current), Donnie Pinkston
Undergraduate interns (plugin development): Sahil Azad, Amy Wang, Daphne Nea
Graduate students (science advice): Samantha Baker, Abigail Keebler, Brandon Rassmussen, Eva Scheller

Funding

WISER was developed with funding from Caltech's Schmidt Academy for Software Engineering. We are grateful for funding from a NASA Planetary Data Archiving, Restoration, and Tools (PDART) grant to begin in 2025.

Disclaimer

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

Neither the name of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.