Invalid Raster Dataset when trying to load ECW

[mikebaker]

We upgraded to ArcGIS 10 yesterday.

Tried to add our ECW aerial imagery and got an error message:

"Invalid rater dataset. Failed to create raster layer."

These ECW files were opening just fine in Arc 9.3.1 two days ago.

What's the problem?

(ArcInfo license, btw...)

[EricRice]

Graeme,

The ECW issue is still unresolved in our tracking system.  It is being targeted for the next service pack.  I personally only reproduced it the day I installed 10.  After I shut ArcMap down and reopened, all my ECW's were back.  We do realize this is not the case for many people though. Hence we are still seeking a solution for all the ECW users out there.

Regards,
Eric

[EricRice]

Yes, I just upgraded to ArcGIS 10 and installed the service pack and my image service will not start now with our .ecw aerial.  You can't even pick it when you create a new service as I could in 9.3.

Colleen,
The particular ECW bug in this thread is unrelated to image services not starting.  Have you contacted technical support regarding the problem your facing?  Do you have licensing from ERDAS to serve ECW's?  The placement of the dll's location is changed in 10 to be able to serve this proprietary format.  Server and Desktop no longer have shared install directories.  I would recommend contacting Support.

You may also want to review this knowledge base article.
FAQ:  What is required to serve ECW images in ArcGIS Image Server?

[CarolBaker]

Just installed SP 1, still getting the error.......
So I can't view my most recent aerial photos until ESRI gets around to fixing this, what they call a "bug"?

[MichaelStead]

I had this error, did the registry workaround and have been fine since. I know using stand alone GDAL I had to install the ECW drivers seperately as they are proprietary. I am not sure how the GDAL integration was done @ v10, but possibly using the 9.3 GDAL library script (from ESRI scripts) and installing the ECW drivers from their site might work better.

[GraemeBrowning]

I'm pleased to see that the Invalid Raster Dataset when trying to load ECW problem (NIM060238) is on the list targeted to be fixed in ArcGIS Desktop 10.0 Service Pack 2:
http://downloads2.esri.com/support/documentation/ao_/10.0_SP2_Announcement.pdf

- Graeme

[KristinBlier]

Good news- looks like it is resolved now. Just gotta wait until SP2 goes out.

http://resources.arcgis.com/content/nimbus-bug?bugID=TklNMDYwMjM4

[KeithGerhartz1]

ESRI indicates that you must contact ERDAS to obtain a license to use with ArcGIS Server. I thought this would be like obtaining a license from UNISYS to use .gif (which is not public domain) but no - the charge is $3600 for an 8 core server. We will be using a different format from this point forward - particularly since our imagery ends up as a cache anyway.

[Asdullah_KhanGhalib]

Thank you very much for giving such a good help,
it worked for me

[PaulBeaty]

ESRI indicates that you must contact ERDAS to obtain a license to use with ArcGIS Server. I thought this would be like obtaining a license from UNISYS to use .gif (which is not public domain) but no - the charge is $3600 for an 8 core server. We will be using a different format from this point forward - particularly since our imagery ends up as a cache anyway.

The whole reason the ECW file format was invented is so you do not need a cache to serve the image with inexpensive hardware and low bandwidth networks with high performance. Compression was a nice way to shrink the image data at the same time.