Project Raster Catalog

[BobPerham]

I have a set of images in a Raster Catalog in UTM and I want to project it to a geographic coordinate system (NAD83).  I haven't seen a tool that allows me to do this.  Project Raster doesn't work with Raster Catalogs.  What am I missing?  I'm using 10.1.

[JamesCrandall]

You may have to go through and project each of the individual raster datasets, then build a new Raster Catalog with the new rasters.  Not sure and I am hoping to see an difinitive answer on this issue too, but I may just have to go through with the spatial reference conversion myself and build a new Raster Catalog.

[EricRice]

Greetings,

Definitely do not project each of the individual raster datasets.  All you need to do is build a new raster catalog with the coordinate system you want.  Specifically, you want to look at the "Coordinate System for Raster Column" parameter.  The spatial reference of the raster column is used during data loading as:

• A default spatial reference for those raster datasets that have an unknown  spatial reference


• A target spatial reference if you choose to project your raster datasets  that have different spatial references from the raster column

The raster catalog has been superseded by the mosaic dataset, which has  many more capabilities, uses, and functions. Therefore, it is  recommended that you manage raster data using a mosaic dataset instead  of using a raster catalog.  Mosaic datasets can be in a different coordinate system (and even datum- unlike catalogs) than the source data feeding into it.

Best,
Eric

[BobPerham]

Hi Eric,  thanks for the info.  I was able to create a new raster catalog and mosaic dataset with New > Raster Catalog... and New > Mosaic Dataset but I don't see how to load my existing raster catalog into either.  All load/import tools are looking for datasets or raw images.

[JamesCrandall]

Greetings,

All you need to do is build a new raster catalog with the coordinate system you want.  Specifically, you want to look at the "Coordinate System for Raster Column" parameter.  The spatial reference of the raster column is used during data loading as:

• A default spatial reference for those raster datasets that have an unknown  spatial reference


• A target spatial reference if you choose to project your raster datasets  that have different spatial references from the raster column

The raster catalog has been superseded by the mosaic dataset, which has  many more capabilities, uses, and functions. Therefore, it is  recommended that you manage raster data using a mosaic dataset instead  of using a raster catalog.  Mosaic datasets can be in a different coordinate system (and even datum- unlike catalogs) than the source data feeding into it.

Best,
Eric

Cool!

If the Raster Catalog has rasters of the exact same spatial extent on top of each other, you can add and populate a date field and make this time-enabled.  This allows you to build time-series animations out of the rasters.

I hope the Mosaic allow for this.

[EricRice]

Hi Eric,  thanks for the info.  I was able to create a new raster catalog and mosaic dataset with New > Raster Catalog... and New > Mosaic Dataset but I don't see how to load my existing raster catalog into either.  All load/import tools are looking for datasets or raw images.

Hi Bob,

If you take the raster catalog approach, you have to load the source rasters again. You can't load a catalog into another catalog.  However, if you take the mosaic dataset approach you have a few options.  First, you can run Create Referenced Mosaic Dataset which creates a new mosaic dataset from an existing raster catalog, a selection set from a raster catalog, or a mosaic dataset.  You can right click on your catalog and see this option in the context menu or you can just open the tool from ArcToolbox.  Second, you can load the existing raster catalog into your new (empty) mosaic dataset by specifying 'Table' for the Raster Type parameter within Add Rasters to Mosaic Dataset. Lastly, you can load the source rasters into the new (empty) mosaic dataset using the Raster Dataset - Raster Type, or if you have sensor data and we have the matching raster type, just specify that.  See, What is a Raster Type for more information.  You will probably want to review, What is a mosaic dataset since it outlines the differences between a referenced mosaic dataset and a regular mosaic dataset. 

Best,
Eric

[EricRice]

I hope the Mosaic allow for this.

Mosaic Datasets support time awareness.  See Time in a mosaic dataset

Best,
Eric