ERDAS (Earth Resources Data Analysis Systems) has been a major provider of software for multispectral image analysis integrated with raster geographic information system (GIS) functionality since the early 1980s. In May 2001, ERDAS was acquired by Leica Geosystems of Switzerland as a part of an effort to broaden its geoprocessing capabilities. ERDAS IMAGINE is now a broad collection of software tools designed specifically to process imagery that exists within the Leica Photogrammetry Suite (LPS).

ERDAS was a spin-off of research being performed at the Georgia Tech Engineering Experiment Station (EES), now called the “Georgia Tech Research Institute.” EES in the early 1970s developed public domain image processing software for NASA and performed a statewide land cover classification of NASA's Earth Resources Technology Satellite (ERTS) data. The ...