Loading images into ArcSDE. Good or Bad ?

[HaniuHokkaido]

Dear all,

Do you think its appropriate to store image data into database ?
If I load the images into the database, will they degrade in quality ?

In ArcgIS, There are two methods of managing the image, first is by loading them into the database and second is by keeping reference to the location of the images.. Now, if loading the image into the database is "BAD", why is there such capability in ArcSDE ?

Thanks

[JeffreySwain]

There is help documentation on the subject of how a raster is stored that is good reading prior to making a decision.  Depending on the version of software you are using, I would consider 3 factors:

1. Is data storage size an issue?
2. What is the final client you want the rasters displayed in?
3. Who will be accessing the data?

If you are using ArcGIS 10, I would strongly consider the mosaic dataset as an option, to retain the original native format and increase the performance.  However, if you are using another version or are seeking a specific client then I would consider the SDE.  If you plan on publishing the raster, then you will have to look into the necessary licensing for publishing a mosaic dataset vs publishing the raster via SDE.  If you are concerned about the look of the SDE raster, be sure the cell size, resampling display and pyramid resampling match the original raster.  That may be causing the issue to make it 'bad.'

[HaniuHokkaido]

Dear Jeff,

Answers :
1. Off course data storage is always be an issue if you want to store it into database. not just the storage, but the performance as well...
2. The final client is just Desktop
3. Only internal workers are accessing the data

Now, what concern me most is the performance of the database and the quality of the data.
My question was : Is there any quality degradation if we store the data inside database ? (Will there be any losses in my raster quality ? Storing raster as file is better than storing raster in database ?). If such loss in quality happens, how do you explain this losses ? and What are the losses ?

There used to be a discussion about "unmanaged SDE raster". Here is the link about the discussion unmanaged raster. It seems in the discussion that the database will have performance degradation if there are a lot of raster data stored inside. And it is answered with Mosaic Dataset (desktop help), with Mosaic Dataset, the raster doesnt have to be inside the database.

Many thanks