How to make ArcCatalog tools access mosaic footprints

[VuDang]

Hello,

We are in the process of upgrading 9.3.1 image services to 10.1 Mosaic datasets. With 9.3.1, we were able to access footprint shape file and its data.

From ArcMap 10.1, I can run a select tool on the footprint layer of a mosaic, but I cannot run the same select tool from ArcCatalog on the footprint layer as ArcCatalog does not show the footprint layer and adding "\Footprint" to the feature path does not work.

In fact I cannot run any tools on the footprint layer from ArcCatalog like I can with ArcMap.

This is frustrating as in the past one can expect ArcMap and ArcCatalog to behave consistently.

Is there a way to access the footprint data of a mosaic dataset from ArcCatalog tools or scripting? 

Thanks,
Vu Dang

[JieZhang]

Hi Vu,

Because ArcCatalog does not automatically create mosaic layer when you access mosaic dataset. You will need to create the mosaic layer first.
Run the Make Mosaic Layer tool to create a in-memory mosaic layer. Then you can use the \Footprint path to access the footprint of the mosaic dataset.

For example, if you created a mosaic layer "mdlayer" through Make Mosaic Layer tool. In the select tool, you can specify the input as "mdlayer\Footprint".



Jie