topic Re: Area Solar Radiation: Failed to open raster dataset in ArcGIS Spatial Analyst Questions

Area Solar Radiation: Failed to open raster dataset

Anonymous User — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 11:15:28 GMT

Original User: Greforb

I tried to do some calculations on solar radiation in ArcGis 10. I use the Area Solar Radiation tool, and no matter what settings I use, I keed getting the error: Failed to open raster dataset. I Tried doing it both in ArcMap and in Python, using the following command:
AreaSolarRadiation("K:/Raster/dem.img","45,0","2800","WholeYear   2009","14","0,5","NOINTERVAL","1","FROM_DEM","32","8","8","UNIFORM_SKY","0,3","0,5",'','','')

I get the full error:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\Users\Gis\Desktop\vg.py", line 7, in <module>
    AreaSolarRadiation("K:/Raster/dem.img","45,0","2800","WholeYear   2009","14","0,5","NOINTERVAL","1","FROM_DEM","32","8","8","UNIFORM_SKY","0,3","0,5",'','','')
File "C:\Program Files (x86)\ArcGIS\Desktop10.0\arcpy\arcpy\sa\Functions.py", line 5953, in AreaSolarRadiation
    out_direct_duration_raster)
File "C:\Program Files (x86)\ArcGIS\Desktop10.0\arcpy\arcpy\sa\Utils.py", line 47, in swapper
    result = wrapper(*args, **kwargs)
File "C:\Program Files (x86)\ArcGIS\Desktop10.0\arcpy\arcpy\sa\Functions.py", line 5933, in wrapper
    out_direct_duration_raster)
File "C:\Program Files (x86)\ArcGIS\Desktop10.0\arcpy\arcpy\geoprocessing\_base.py", line 474, in <lambda>
    return lambda *args: val(*gp_fixargs(args))
ExecuteError: ERROR 999999: Error executing function.
Failed to open raster dataset
Failed to execute (AreaSolarRadiation).

From which it seems to be the out_direct_duration_raster which is causing the trouble. However, this is optional, so I don't get why. I tried giving it a path for the out_direct_duration_raster, which does not help either.

I also tried to do a repair of the installation because I read somewhere else here on the forums that that might help. No luck though!

Any suggestions are greatly appreaciated

Re: Area Solar Radiation: Failed to open raster dataset

DiegoVallmitjana — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 09:29:14 GMT

I have the exact some problem..
I not checked form pyton if i see the same errors, but looks impossible to calculate with this tool. The tool Always fails, and generates empty rasters.

Re: Area Solar Radiation: Failed to open raster dataset

Anonymous User — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 06:19:41 GMT

Original User: Greforb

One further note: I already installed the new service pack, so that's not the problem.

Re: Area Solar Radiation: Failed to open raster dataset

Anonymous User — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 06:38:33 GMT

I get the same problem, and I do also have service pack 1 installed.

Re: Area Solar Radiation: Failed to open raster dataset

Anonymous User — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 22:12:21 GMT

Original User: petter.nyman

same problem here - solutions anyone???

Re: Area Solar Radiation: Failed to open raster dataset

RyanLiddell — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 23:19:55 GMT

I've been using this tool a lot lately and ran into a couple of problems. On a brand new laptop (Windows 7 with an Intel i5 chipset), it will run even with a very large raster as the input -- as long as I turn background processing off. That problem is less of a headache.

On an older workstation (Windows XP, Intel Core 2, 3Ghz, 3.25 GB RAM) I get the "Failed to open raster dataset" error. ESRI support informed me that the size of the raster input is the culprit for that error. The only workaround I know of is to chop up the input rasters. In general I've found that if I chop up me raster inputs to a fize size of 50MB or less the tool will run on the workstation.

Re: Area Solar Radiation: Failed to open raster dataset

Anonymous User — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 16:52:21 GMT

Original User: rdebruyn

Ryan have you contacted support or already have an incident number?

Wondering if you can provide the input data and steps/settings you used to produce the error.

What size(rows columns) and format is your input data.

Thank you,
Ryan DeBruyn
ESRI - Spatial Analyst Team

Re: Area Solar Radiation: Failed to open raster dataset

AndrewBlakey1 — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 23:39:12 GMT

Hello:

I just wanted to add that I am having the same problem as mentioned a few times above.

I will configure Area Solar Radiation as I have dozens of times before in ArcGIS 9.3, and a few seconds in, it will fail. An empty raster will be generated. There is no error message of any kind. In the Results, it just shows the red X stating that the process failed.

The solution has been to just run the tool in ArcGIS 9.3 on a different computer.

Please let me know if I can be of any help. I hope to see this problem resolved as the tool plays a significant role in my Master's thesis. Swapping data between servers is frusterating, especially since the geodatabases don't like being loaded in Arc 9 after being created in Arc 10.

Thanks!

Re: Area Solar Radiation: Failed to open raster dataset

Anonymous User — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 13:07:50 GMT

Original User: jbswain

I would echo what Ryan mentioned to please log a Support incident. Without the data and a reproducible case, it is difficult to fix these problems. Providing the data to Support will get the case reported to Development and then a fix or workaround is more likely to be determined.

Re: Area Solar Radiation: Failed to open raster dataset

DungNguyen — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 19:07:54 GMT

is there any new update for this issue. I still have problem running solar radiation analysis on ArcGIS 10

Re: Area Solar Radiation: Failed to open raster dataset

Anonymous User — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 11:34:05 GMT

Original User: jbswain

If you are still having the issue, then I recommend creating a Support Incident, so a bug report can be created if necessary or a workaround determined.

Re: Area Solar Radiation: Failed to open raster dataset

AndrewBrown1 — Wed, 30 May 2012 18:37:11 GMT

Does anybody have any resolution regarding this issue? I am experiencing it as well.

Re: Area Solar Radiation: Failed to open raster dataset

AndrewBrown1 — Thu, 31 May 2012 15:17:07 GMT

In regards to my previous post, I think it's the DEM that I'm using. Essentially, it's the original DEM combined with elevation values from building polygons. The linear units are in feet, and it's in a state plane coordinate system; are the units supposed to be in meters for the solar radiation tool to function properly?

Re: Area Solar Radiation: Failed to open raster dataset

Anonymous User — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 17:48:06 GMT

Original User: tbwester

This error has been driving me INSANE!!!!! All these comments about workspaces and stuff are not the issue, there is something in arcmap that is screwing up.

FIX:

Bring in an editable layer (i.e. shapefile, you cannot edit your raster).

Start editing. And area solar radiation should work while you are in edit mode.

Be interested to hear if this is working for others.

Re: Area Solar Radiation: Failed to open raster dataset

AbelSantana — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 18:37:11 GMT

This error has been driving me INSANE!!!!! All these comments about workspaces and stuff are not the issue, there is something in arcmap that is screwing up.

FIX:

Bring in an editable layer (i.e. shapefile, you cannot edit your raster).

Start editing. And area solar radiation should work while you are in edit mode.

Be interested to hear if this is working for others.

I got my issues resolved using this method.

Originally I was getting the 999999 error trying the points to solar tool, once i tried it in editing mode it worked fine.
Then i stopped editing and tried after i disabled background processing it worked fine as well.

So it seems as if the background processing was the culprit!

Re: Area Solar Radiation: Failed to open raster dataset

Anonymous User — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 17:56:34 GMT

Original User: myrnostrum555

I got my issues resolved using this method.

Originally I was getting the 999999 error trying the points to solar tool, once i tried it in editing mode it worked fine.
Then i stopped editing and tried after i disabled background processing it worked fine as well.

So it seems as if the background processing was the culprit!

Ditto. Editing a layer fixed the problem. Weird, but I'll take it!

Re: Area Solar Radiation: Failed to open raster dataset

MartaDiaz — Wed, 22 May 2013 08:46:52 GMT

Hi everybody!
I also had the same problem as you and i tried to change several times the data and finally i got where the problem is coming...you have to let the default path where ArcGis keep your output features... DONT GIVE YOUR OWN PATH!!! I hope it can be a help of you all...

Re: Area Solar Radiation: Failed to open raster dataset

SalmanAhmed3 — Mon, 23 May 2016 13:37:38 GMT

I agree that not changing the default output location (ArcGIS default) does the trick.

The above suggested method of using the editing environment worked for me at first but then started giving the same error. But the default location trick is still working perfect for me.