The disappearance of the raster catalog in ArcGIS Pro

[Louis-PhilippeRodier]

Hey there.

Am I the only one that was using the Raster Catalog to bypass the mosaic features in ArcGIS? Used to work fine under ArcGIS Pro and it got the axe in the latest versions. Sure, it still works great in ArcMAP, which is next to get cut. Kind of angry at ESRI when the only answer you get is "Upgrade your license plan from a basic to a standard". Big gap in annual fees for a simple function, don't you think! Standard as more analysis tools, sure, but we don't usually need those.

Any thoughts? Anyone else got affected?

[Robert_LeClair]

A workaround of the Image Server idea is to Migrate a Raster Catalog to a Mosaic Dataset using the workflow mentioned here.  Works with Standard and Advanced Desktop licenses.

[TomMagdaleno]

But the issue is that raster catalogs can be published as a feature service displayed in server without an image server license.  Mosaic datasets only publish as an image service.  I use mosaics for my mapping, but for the users who use arcgis server data I make a catalog and publish it to save $10k a year.  

[NatalieCassar-Pieper]

Our use case cannot be implemented with mosaic raster either.
We need to display hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of raster datasets (each has a release date attribute), and then toggle them on and off based on their release date.

There is an older overall plan for the entire city area, which is at the bottom, and this plan is "pasted over" in small sections by later changes. The changes are sorted in release date order, with the most recent change at the top.
This is how a valid overall plan is created in a raster catalogue.

Sometimes the user wants to see only one of the rasters, sometimes all rasters up to a specific date, and sometimes all rasters, latest changes at the top.

Except that Esri wants suggests every ArcGIS Basic user  to buy a several thousand dollar upgrade to a Standard license ...
In an image service I can't hide individual rasters (or can I? I'm afraid I cannot) and therefore I can't implement the function at all with ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Server 11.

Thank you Esri; a real step up from ArcMap and ArcGIS Enterprise 10!

Unfortunately this is not the first frustrating experience of this kind in 27 years of using Esri software. 😞
New is not necessarily better...
A good idea could be to migrate to QGIS and virtual rasters....

[AdrianMarsden]

Arrghhhhhhh - we just hit this, it may be a big enough show stopper to cause us to ditch Esri altogether, stay on the versions we have, for as long as we can, and use that time to migrate to something else.

Esri don't seem to graps that some of us have image catalogs with 1000s of files.  Maintianing them with catalogs is so easy.  Mosaics just don't add anything

[AdrianMarsden]

Plus, if we have to publish mosaics as image services I don't think our js applications would be able to cope, so a massive re-write would be needed,.

[JACKSJOSTROM]

Our web application has the ability to render one georeferenced plat in raster format for a selected parcel or set of parcels on the interactive map when the client zooms to the selection. Those georeferenced plats are stored in raster catalogs, and we link the raster name to the parcel identification number in a SQL table. We have 180 unique counties that we serve to our clients. Each county contains 3000 to 9000 unique plats stored in separate raster catalogs, one raster catalog for each of the 180 counties.

How are we to use mosaic datasets in the same manner?

[gismoe]

Wenn ArcGIS Pro diese Funktionalität verliert, verliert Esri mich auch als Kunden!

[HenningDuesterhoeft]

@Esri: I want to support the requests from the previous writers. Why quitting an established feature like the raster catalog without apparent reason and without offering a smooth alternative? There are complete workflows and business models basing on this technology. That's not in your customers' interests! Please reconsider your policy and restore the raster catalog in ArcGIS Pro!

[AdrianMarsden]

I think esri's answer will be along the lines of this chunk from Hitchher's Guide to the Galaxy

Mr. Prosser said, “You were quite entitled to make any suggestions or protests at the appropriate time, you know.”

“Appropriate time?” hooted Arthur. “Appropriate time? The first I knew about it was when a workman arrived at my home yesterday. I asked him if he’d come to clean the windows and he said no, he’d come to demolish the house. He didn’t tell me straight away of course. Oh no. First he wiped a couple of windows and charged me a fiver. Then he told me.”

“But Mr. Dent, the plans have been available in the local planning office for the last nine months.”

“Oh yes, well, as soon as I heard I went straight round to see them, yesterday afternoon. You hadn’t exactly gone out of your way to call attention to them, had you? I mean, like actually telling anybody or anything.”

“But the plans were on display . . .”

“On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.”

“That’s the display department.”

“With a flashlight.”

“Ah, well, the lights had probably gone.”

“So had the stairs.”

“But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.’”

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