Mosaic Dataset - Setting MinPS below LowPS has no effect

JasonGreenlaw · ‎02-19-2014

I have a map service containing a single mosaic dataset with five (non-overlapping) rasters. Each raster is a GeoTIFF with several embedded overviews (pyramids), and each has a different width/height/resolution.

I'd like to be able to set the maximum display scale of each individual raster (e.g., raster "A" needs to disappear after 1:577,000, raster "B" needs to disappear after 1:288,000, etc.).

I was planning to implement this by updating the Mosaic Dataset's attribute table to set different MinPS values for each raster. While this works for larger MinPS values, I've discovered that setting the MinPS of any raster to a value smaller than the lowest LowPS value in the Mosaic Dataset has no effect.

Here are my min/max/low/high PS values:

    minps    |      maxps       |     lowps      |     highps
-------------+------------------+----------------+----------------
 0.000000000 | 200000.000000000 | 2060.797725894 | 2060.797725894
 0.000000000 | 200000.000000000 | 4000.000000000 | 4000.000000000
 0.000000000 | 200000.000000000 |  789.510316420 |  789.510316420
 0.000000000 | 200000.000000000 |  940.407095286 |  940.407095286
 0.000000000 | 200000.000000000 |  519.879708618 |  519.879708618

In this case, setting any MinPS value lower than 519.879708618 (the smallest LowPS in the Mosaic Dataset) has no effect, and the target raster still displays (even down to approx. 1:1 scale).

If I set this value to 520, it immediately has an effect, but sets the scale threshold higher than desired. This limits the max scale that can be set for each raster to either too low (1:1) or too high (~ 1:1,965,354) - there's no in-between.

Can anyone explain this behavior? Is this to be expected? Is there any other way to control max scale for individual rasters in a mosaic dataset (other than creating a separate map layer for each raster)?

MichaelNesius · ‎02-19-2014

Hi Jason,

In general, ArcGIS will automatically populate the MinPS/MaxPS values based on the resolution of the raster/overview. It will set the Min/MaxPS so that the better resolution images are shown when you're zoomed in and the lower resolution overviews are shown when zoomed out

Since it seems like you want to customize the visibility, here's a table showing how different scales relate to different pixel sizes (approximately) as shown in the Service Properties dialog, Caching Tab.

Scale Pixel size
1:1,128     0.2985�?�
1:2,256     0.5971�?�
1:4,513     1.194�?�
1:9,027     2.388..
1:18055     4.77..
1:36111     9.55�?�
1:72223     19.109�?�
1:144447     38.21

If you don't want a raster to be visible when zoomed-in to a certain level, raise its MinPS. If you don't want the raster to be visible when zoomed-out past a certain level decrease its MaxPS.

JasonGreenlaw · ‎02-20-2014

Hi Michael

I do understand the purpose of MinPS/MaxPS, and I have had some success modifying the values manually, but the problem I'm encountering is that the MinPS setting seems to have no effect when set between zero and the smallest LowPS value in the Mosaic Dataset.

In my above example, setting the MinPS of any raster to 519 has the same effect as setting it to zero. But if I set it to 520, it immediately affects the scale visibility threshold for that raster, but sets it too high.

Using the help documentation's cell size-to-scale equations, that means I can only set the maximum scale of each raster to either 1:1 (for any MinPS value between 0 and 519.8797) or to >= 1:1,965,354 (for MinPS values >= 520). The problem is that there is no in-between; I'd like to be able to set the max scale of one of the individual rasters to about 1:570,000, but it seems this is not possible.

I will likely submit an incident with ESRI to find the cause of this behavior.

MichaelNesius · ‎02-20-2014

Hi Jason,

Using an Editor session to change individual MinPS and MaxPS should work...I attached screenshots showing the effect working with a MD in which I modified a single raster's MinPS (and it's LowPS to try and mimic the situation you're having).

Could you post the actual MinPS/MaxPS/LowPS/HighPS values in you're using in your mosaic that aren't working? Since you only have 5 asters, would you go ahead and list the visibility range you want for each?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]31648[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]31649[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]31647[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]31646[/ATTACH]

JasonGreenlaw · ‎02-21-2014

Hi Michael,

Since I'm using a PostgreSQL database, I'm editing the MinPS values in the Mosaic Dataset catalog table directly (using SQL), but it's the same concept as using an editing session.

I attached a few screenshots of my example. As you can see in the first screenshot, I've changed the minps value of "wind_conus_201402211605_0" to 259. Using ESRI's equations, this should correspond with a max scale value of about 1:978,898. But as you can see in my screenshot, the image still shows up even at 1:500,000 scale (albeit blurry).

However, if I change the MinPS value to 260 (second screenshot), which is just barely greater than the smallest LowPS value in the Mosaic Dataset (259.868275), it disappears as it should.

larryzhang · ‎10-16-2016

One more is here for discussion (ArcGIS 10.4):

When several MD to directly be added as "dataset" (not "table") into a new MD, users mostly would like to customize the "visibility Order" of those MD in the new MD. However, MinPS, MaxPS, LowPS, HighPS couldn't effectively manage.

For example, the new MD "E" contains MD "A", MD "B", and MD "C", which may have similar resolution and would like to be visible at 1:25000 - 1:1000. Considering those A, B and C acquired and processed at different years (with different coverage), users would like to overlay one by one in order in MD "E", so that we can "seamlessly" update the existing cache with this new MD "E". So far, it looks to me that it is hard to manage.

In attachment, the ObjectID =22 (saying, which is referred to MD "D") would like be overlaid directly over the top, but tried in many ways and failed ...

Any comment?

+++++++++++++

Currently, in order to update cache for this type of circumstances, users have to frequently and carefully update the previous boundary or footprints of MDs (overlaid areas) with the newer MD boundary (shrunk) firstly to guarantee all new MD visibility in new MD "E"

ModyBuchbinder · ‎10-17-2016

Try to use the zOrder field.

See here: Understanding the mosaicking rules for a mosaic dataset—Help | ArcGIS for Desktop

larryzhang · ‎10-18-2016

Mody, thanks for your assistance,

With ZOrder, it is functional, which fully meets our need on high efficiency and better quality (below) while updating cache.

Left: from old MD; Right: from new MD, which are smoothly merged and seamlessly displayed between 1:30000 -1:1000 by order