How do you combine two rasters...

[BenjaminHerman]

I have a 30m DEM of an area and 5m Lidar of a smaller area inside the DEM.
-I've re sampled the DEM so that it has the same cell size as the Lidar data, but it's still pretty messy
-I would like to set the data in the DEM that will be covered up by the Lidar data to zero in hopes of removing some of the artifacting

1. what would be the best settings for the re sample of the DEM?
2. how do I basically make a doughnut hole of zero or no data in the dem that fits the Lidar raster?
3. when I merge these two rasters what will be the best settings?

this will be used for a large map that shows trails, contour lines, and other key points of interest for Park Rangers at a NP

Thanks for the help

[CarrieDavis]

Hi Benjamin,

There are a couple ways you could do this in Arcmap.  I've listed two below and some documentation to get you started.
This is for version 10.0 or above.

- Create a mosaic dataset.
*need to have ArcInfo/Editor or an advanced license level.
What is a mosaic dataset? (overview of this procedure)
http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#//009t00000037000000

-Mosaic the rasters together, specifying the cell size and mosaic method using the Mosaic to New Raster tool.
Mosaic to New Rater (Data Management tool)
http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#//001700000098000000

[NicoleWilliams1]

I cannot find the "new post button" even though my permissions say I can post a new thread, and this is the most closely related post I can find to my question, so please bear with me.

I must not have the appropriate license to use the mosaic tool, because it tells me every time that "you do not have the necessary license to execute the selected tool". All I need to do is combined to adjacent raster DEMs into one for further analysis. I do have the spatial analyist extension, which is turned on. Is there any other way to do this?? Please help, I am becoming desparate.

Thank you!

[EricRice]

Nicole,

If you follow the second link in Carrie's post it will take you to Mosaic to New Raster.  This tool runs even on a basic license.  There is zero restrictions for using it.  Creating a Mosaic Dataset does have licensing restrictions noted also in Carrie's post.  Spatial Analyst is not related/required to create a mosaic of two or more raster datasets.

Since there are at least 4 or 5 ways to mosaic data together, which tool are you clicking that is giving the error?

Best,
Eric