My ministry is currently performing some platform testing before we officially migrate from ArcGIS 10.3.1 to 10.5.1. Our group has been asked to participate and I noticed an issue when working with ESRI Grids in one of our native projections: NAD 1983 Ontario MNR Lambert. On 10.5.1, it can read the projection in ArcCatalog and even set the data frame in ArcMap to this projection, but when I add the grid into ArcMap, the projection reverts to the older projection name: NAD_1983_Lambert_Conformal_Conic. When I take it back to 10.3.1, the projection name has indeed changed to the old name. NAD_1983_Lambert_Conformal_Conic no longer appears as an option in ArcMap, so it might be a legacy "ArcInfo" translation nuance that has changed. The parameters for these projections are identical but since it applies specifically to Ontario, I understand this was the rationale for adopting the new name. But for some commands in ArcGIS, this becomes an issue because they will think they are different projections even though they aren't, and because of this, will not work properly.
I tried redefining the projection in ArcMap to Ontario MNR Lambert but nothing happens. I have to go back to 10.3.1 to successfully redefine it.
This phenomenon only happens with ESRI Grids. I tested rasters in file geodatabases and ERDAS Imagine file formats with no apparent issue.
I wish I could just abandon the ESRI Grid format for many reasons, but we have several tools which still write to this format and it would not be an easy fix to convert formats. It would take days if not weeks to reprogram, retest, etc...
And since ESRI Grids are still supported (I have yet to hear otherwise), is there a known fix for this type of issue?
Thanks in advance.
