How do I change the extent for a raster?

[JustinBlackburn1]

Hello,

This is probably a simple question, but is there a tool or file I can edit to change the boundaries of a TIF file in ArcMap 10.1?

Currently, I have an unprojected TIF file that I need to set into WGS_1984 and has boundaries of something stupid like
Top: 0.0000004
Left: -0.0000004
etc. etc.

I need to set those to
180
-90
etc.

for it to display correctly with other files that we have.

I know about changing the *.tfw extension, and then telling ArcMap to use the World file in the options.  That won't work for me, as I don't want to have to do that one everyone else's machine.  I also don't want to re-export them all, so if there's some kind of script I could write to change something in the XML file, that would be great.

Unfortunately, though I found those numbers in the *.TIF.xml document and changed all iterations of them, it made no difference even after closing and re-opening ArcGIS and ArcCatalog.  They still displayed with the same limits in ArcGIS.

Thank you for any help!

[T__WayneWhitley]

Sure, what you need are the control points to 'transform' the raster - if you have a set of known coordinates you want to use for this operation, then you can use 'Warp' - this creates a new raster (note-- if you have a 'link file' containing the coords, use the 2nd link below):

Warp (Data Management)
Desktop » Geoprocessing » Tool reference » Data Management toolbox » Projections and Transformations toolset
http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#//00170000007v000000

Warp From File (Data Management)
Desktop » Geoprocessing » Tool reference » Data Management toolbox » Projections and Transformations toolset
http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#//00170000015v000000


If you don't know the control point coords beforehand, but have something to interact with in your map view, you can use the georeferencing tools, essentially using the 'Rectify' option to do the same thing (the 'Update Georeferencing' option may save the georef info to the file, but you should check to make sure it meets your specs - I am not certain whether this function is limited to writing to a world file):

Georeferencing a raster to a vector
Geodata » Data types » Rasters and images » Processing and analyzing raster data » Georeferencing
http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#//009t000000mq000000

ADDITIONAL INFO:
"Updating the georeferencing will store the transformation information in external files�??it will not create a new raster dataset, which happens when you permanently transform your raster dataset. For a raster dataset that is file based, such as a TIFF, the transformation will generally be stored in an external XML file�??with an .AUX.XML extension."

This was taken directly from the help file section on "Should you rectify your raster?":

Fundamentals of georeferencing a raster dataset
Geodata » Data types » Rasters and images » Processing and analyzing raster data
http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#//009t000000mn000000