Problem displaying US Forest Service GeoTiffs in ArcGIS 10.2

[Anonymous User]

Original User: mwestra2

US Forest Service GeoTiff Topo Maps downloaded from their site aren't displaying correctly in ArcMap. An example of one of their maps is here: http://data.fs.usda.gov/geodata/rastergateway/data/47121/fstopo/470012130_Sun_Top_FSTopo.zip. Other GeoTiffs I download from other sites all seem to work fine (e.g. from USGS site). I can even re-save the USFS GeoTiff as a regular .tif file and then manually georeference it and it and then that works fine as well.

Here's what it looks like in ArcMap : [ATTACH=CONFIG]34966[/ATTACH]

Here's what it's supposed to look like: [ATTACH=CONFIG]34967[/ATTACH]

I've tried different projections and re-sampling. Can anyone help here? My knowledge of raster technology is very limited.

Thanks!

[JoshuaBixby]

The ZIP file you reference has 2 TIFs.  Both are georeferenced, although only one of them has the term "geo" in it.  Looking at the TIFF image metadata shows the following, and ArcMap shows the same information.

• 470012130_geo.tif:  Geographic, NAD83
• 470012130.tif:  Projected, NAD83 UTM zone 10N

Which image are you having problems with?  And what is the projection of the data frame?

Your "good" capture didn't come through as an attachment so I am not clear on what you are expecting to see.

[JoshuaBixby]

When it comes to discrete raster data, especially color maps, I have always thought ArcMap's rendering engine falls short.  Looking at how a section of 470012130.tif renders on my screen between Windows Photo Viewer and ArcMap.

Windows Photo Viewer:

ArcMap:

Granted, Windows Photo Viewer is treating the image as RGB while ArcMap is dealing with the color map, but it just seems the quality difference shouldn't be this pronounced.