Relative Path in unmanaged raster catalog

Question

I would like to store relative paths in my unmanaged raster catalog. Is this possible in a file geodatabase version 10.1 and how to do?

I want to separate the raster data and the unmanaged raster catalog with UNC path on different storage media.

Thanks for answer

mattwilkie · Answer

Idea has a new location now:

https://community.esri.com/ideas/9279

If you haven't voted before because of the hassle of signing in to yet another site, that's fixed. Go vote!

mattwilkie · Answer

Please consider voting for feature request to allow Relative path names for mosaic datasets

brucesimonson · Answer

What?  Still no joy on the use of relative paths in file geodatabase mosaic datasets?  Google up, and this request has been around since, like, forever.

I need to produce a data DVD for mass distribution, and have no guarentee what drive the disc will spin up as on a user's PC.  And similarly, if users choose to copy these data onto one of their PC's drives, there's no guarantee this target drive will be C, or D, or whatever.

But hey, how about relative paths?  ... now there's a novel idea ... they would really work in this case.  Yes, I do know about UNC's, but these aren't networked PCs.  And yes, I know about "repairing" directories, but I'd venture to guess the average bloke doesn't.  And, hmm, using relative paths in the first place would eliminate the need for repairing something that isn't broken.

Heck, if I remember correctly, even image catalogs in ArcView 3 would run circles around this annoyance (feature?, flaw??) in ArcGIS.

Sorry to sound a little snarky, but hey, relative paths in file geodatabase mosaic datasets ought to be an option, if not the default.  🙂

Cheers,
-Bruce