Renaming and moving raster projection files

[KathleenAutenrieth]

Hi there,

I am in the process of projecting many maps from many coordinate systems all into the same coordinate system. This is part of a larger effort to clean a massive dataset. 

I am running into several problems that are making a bigger mess than what I started with:

1) If I rename a raster it looses its projection information. Any ideas? (I make sure to select all the files .ovr, .tfwx .tiff .aux etc.. and rename them together)

2) When I project the raster I am limited to 9 characters to name it. Why?

     2a) The output from projecting produces 5 folders and 5 additional files to the original, of which I need to rename since I was limited in the original projection. When I do so I run into problem 1 and I start the vicious cycle all over again.

What am I doing wrong? Is there a cleaner way to go about this? It seems very clunky. Can I delete some of the output files? Should I just buy global mapper software for this task?

Thanks for your help!

-Kat

[SepheFox]

First, I would only rename stuff in ArcCatalog, or the ArcCatalog window in ArcMap. That way you don't have to worry about the parts--it will do that for you. Second, how are you changing the projection of a raster? It shouldn't make any more files than you had before, unless your changing formats or something, and even then, folders shouldn't be involved. I would recommend creating file geodatabases to store your data in. You don't run into naming difficulties (except you can't start a name with a number) with a geodatabse, and there are a lot of other benefits, too numerous to mention.

[DanPatterson_Retired · Accepted solution]

Rename can be done in arccatalog or arctoolbox, not within your operating system since some metadata files will cleverly undo any attempts to rename the other bits.

If you are getting folders as output, it suggests that you are creating Esri grids which are fairly standard data formats.  Are you seeing an 'info' folder then other folders with you filenames?  they are grids then.  If you have been doing  exporting iin arcmap and not including a file extension like *.tif, they are probably going out in grid format.

If you have access to FME  you can use it for managing large volume reprojection etc.  If you are with an educational organization, they most likely have it.​

[KathleenAutenrieth]

Thank you, your solutions worked perfectly!

[SepheFox]

That's great Kathleen!  Would you mind marking the question as answered in that case? It helps the next person with a similar question find the answer. Thanks!