Latest Contributions by MarkZweifler

Our group is publishing a wide rage of thematic, single-band, integer raster datasets as image services. We were expecting that users would be able to apply their own layer symbology, including using Classified renderers and be able to open up the associated raster attribute table. However the only symbology options are Stretched and Discreet Color and users are unable to view the attribute table. Are these documented limitations for image services of this type ( single raster datasets - not mosaics or catalogs)?  Or is there a step we ware missing to enable this functionality?  Thanks for any help ... View more

I have a base "fishnet" polygon grid. I attempted to create a model that iterates over each cell in that base fishnet grid and subdivide that cell with the Create Fishnet tool into a new feature class. I expected that I simply would need to set the output from my iterate feature iterator  as the 'Template Extent' parameter for the Create Fishnet tool. However, while I can see the name of this iterator output model variable in the drop-down list for the 'Template Extent' parameter;  the name does not have the blue Model Variable icon. And more importantly, the template extent does not update at each model iteration.  Is there a way that I can make my model recognize aan iteration output as a template extent?  ( see screenshot below) [ATTACH=CONFIG]19323[/ATTACH] ... View more

When I use the 'Add Rasters to Mosaic Dataset' tool pointing to a workstation grid workspace I am getting the following error message; [INDENT]"Error: 8004205f: No new mosaic dataset item was added".[/INDENT] I have been unable to obtain any information about the Error ID.  Does the Mosaic dataset supports GRIDs at 10.1? if so, any ideas what Erorr ID # 8004205f refers to? thanks ... View more

In the Help Topic "Using mosaic datasets and image services in geoprocessing tools" http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#/Using_mosaic_datasets_and_image_services_in_geoprocessing_tools/009t000001z0000000/ the topic states: [INDENT]The raster or Spatial Analysis geoprocessing tools directly support the mosaic dataset or mosaic layer.[/INDENT]But in my own testing I find that only some tools seem to work with Mosaics. For examples; Clip seems to work OK. but ReClassify and INT do not. Raster calculator will not even recognize a mosaic as an input raster when loaded into the map document I have found that Extract by Mask has inconsistent results if  the mosaic and the mask raster have the same projection but the source data referenced by the mosaic is in a different projection. I have a guess that tools that require processing of pixel values, like INT and ReClass, can not currently use mosaics as inputs.  Certain tools that transform or process geometry like Clip can work. My presumption is that there is not as robust  system for mosaics managing pixel vaues as , for example a GRID .VAT. And that there purpose is more oriented toward imagery display Tools that rely on an on-the fly reproject for a raster overlay operation  ( like  Extract by Mask) may be problematic (even when using identical cell size as source data for mosaics)- perhaps due to less than perfect snapping of the overlay raster to the on-the-fly projected mosaic pixels? The geoprocessing tool help documentation I have looked at does not seem to explicitly discuss whether a tool should work with mosaics or not - and my discovery is simply by some trial and error. Please let me know what you have learned about using mosaics as inputs to geoprocessing tools. I would like to know what tools relaiably work, which ones do not and an explanation as to why some tools work and others don't the mosaics I am working with our very simple where all source "footprint " files are of the same data type and cell size. Thanks for any insights. ... View more

I am in an organization that wants to perform analysis using USGS 10m. DEMs for the entire United States( approximately 440Gb of source data stored as approximately 3,000 Arc/INFO GRIDs). We have a relatively small group of users and our primary use of this data would be to combine it withother rasters as an input to multi-criteria models. After careful reading of the Help documentation my assessment is that we are best served by creating 1 large SDE raster dataset My preference for the 1 big SDE raster dataset approach is based on the assumptions that: �?� SDE management of 1 large raster would be more efficient than a mosaic that references source pixels stored in GRIDs on disk. �?� SDE's raster storage model of spatial indexes negate the probem of dealing with very large rasters because it only fetches the data needed the display extent or analysis function - so if the db has adeqiate space no value in chuncking a national dataset into pieces �?� All the DEM data is going to have identical properties and there is no value to storing the standard overlap included in each USGS DEM  'tile' However, some documentation seems to suggest that leaving data in the its source format and using a Mosaic dataset for visulaization and access is the preferred method. Managing elevation data: Part 2: Design and data management plan http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#/Part_2_Design_and_data_management_plan/009t0000023v000000/ My sense is that the advantages of a mosaic dataset do not seem to apply to a consistent data product that has been tiled into manageable pieces ( 1/9 arc second quads) by USGS  for public distribution. and if you have the database storage capacity why not load into SDE as a single raster. In this scenario, does anyone have advice as to what is the best data storage solution and why Thanks for any help ... View more

I am attempting to recreate a data management model decribed in the "What is a mosaic dataset?" help topic. [INDENT]For example, you could create a mosaic dataset to manage all your DEM data, then create a referenced mosaic dataset to produce a hillshade or a slope product from the source mosaic dataset. [/INDENT] My problem is that I am only able to render the referenced mosaic datasets using 'Stretched' and 'Discrete Color' and I would like to, but am not able to use 'Classifed' renderers even after calculating  statistics on the DEM mosaic datasets  and/or derived reference mosaic sets.  THis limitation occurs whether or not I am attempting to render the original DEM mosic without raster functions OR the refernced mosaic datasets with 'Slope' raster function or 'Aspect' raster function applied. What is odd is that if I use the Image Analysis window to apply a Slope or Aspect  raster function to a DEM raster dataset or DEM mosaic dataset, the temporary 'on-the fly'  layer that is automatically added by the Image Analysis window to the map table of contents will allow me to apply a 'Classified renderer' Ideally I would like to be able to apply a 'Classified' renderer that references the mosaic or referenced mosaic dataset with raster functions for slope and aspect.  Is this limitation a bug or is there a valid reason for this restriction on mosaic datasets? Or is there there just some step that I am missing and it should be possible to render a single-band mosaic dataset using a 'Classified' renderer? Finally, Is there any effective difference between saving a layer file of the Image Analysis window's on-the-fly depiction of a raster function ( e.g. 'slope' applied to a DEM) and a raster function added via ArcCatalog to a mosaic dataset stored in the geodatabase? If there is no significant disadvantage to the layer file from the on-the-fly Image analysis window raster function approach , I am not sure why one would bother to create referenced mosaic datasets with raster functions applied since both methods share the advantage of not having to duplicate the source data and there seems to be more control over how the data is rendered using the layer file approach Thanks to anyone who has answers and insights to these questions Mark ... View more

I was hoping that using on-the-fly Clip Raster Function from the Image Display window would allow me to generate a histogram/ stats that only pertain to the resultant displayed cells. However, it appears that my resultant temp CLIP layers still use the original source raster for any stats when attempting to display the <sourceraster>_Clip temp layer using Stretched or Classified renderers I am working with U.S. national extent raster datasets with a VAT ( i.e. not imagery). So for example if I was to use a Natural Breaks Classifiers to render an on-the fly clip to a State ( e.g. Michigan) of a national layer with VALUEs of 1-100, I would expect and desire that a Natural Breaks Classification or a Stretch would be based on stats calculated only from the display cells ( i.e. cells inside of a clip of the State of Michigan) and not the full extent of the source raster that covers the entire lower 48 states. But alas, it appears that the on-the-fly clip only affects the display. THe resultant tempoary Raster Function layer does NOT seem to allow me to generate stats for clipped out cells only. I'm hoping that I am missing something. I want to have my data stored one-time as a national raster dataset and be able to use on-the-fly Raster Function Clip layer for getting at a histogram/stats for cases when I want to only look at sub-regions of the raster ( e.g. a State or an ecoregion). Using a stretched renderer with the stats from 'Current display extent' option comes close to what I need but it appears that the display extent stats use source raster as reference -so that the bounding rectangle of the display is used ( not what I want) when what I want is that it only use the cells displayed within my clip Thanks for any help or suggestions , including better understanding of where ESRI intends to go with this Raster Function capability ... View more

I was hoping that using on-the-fly clip Raster Function would allow me to generate a histogram/ stats that only pertain to the resultant displayed cells. However, it appears that my temp CLIP layers still use the original source raster for any stats for display of Stretched or Classified renderers I am working with U.S.  national extent raster datasets with a VAT ( i.e. not imagery). So for example if I was to use a Natural Breaks Classifiers to render an on-the fly clip to a State ( e.g. Michigan) of a national layer with VALUEs of 1-100, I would expect and desire that a Natural Breaks Classification or a Stretch would be based on stats calculated only from the display cells ( i.e. cells inside of a clip of the State of Michigan) and not the full extent of the source raster that covers the entire lower 48 states. But alas, it appears that the on-the-fly clip only affects the display and also allows me to use the "zoom to layer" function to now zoom to my on-the-fly clip area. THe resultant tempoary Raster Function layer does NOT seem to allow me to generate stats for clipped out cells only. I'm hoping that I am missing something. I want to have my data stored one-time as a national raster dataset and be able to use on-the-fly Raster Function Clip layer for getting at a histogram/stats for cases when I want to only look at sub-regions of the raster ( e.g. a State or an ecoregion). Using a stretched renderer with the stats from 'Current display extent' option comes close to what I need but it appears that the display extent stats use source raster as reference -so that the bounding rectangle of the display is used ( not what I want) when what I want is that it only use the cells displayed within my clip Thanks for any help or suggestions , including better understanding of where ESRI intends to go with this Raster Function capability. ... View more