I've got about 6 different Aerial Photography datasets I am managing at the moment. All of them are made up of tiles covering a large area. Some of these datasets contain up to 2000 tiles. All the tiles are slightly overlapping so there re no gaps in the data. Tiles work fine for me, but other users are requesting Mosaic's of the datasets.
I've been trying over the last few days to Mosaic these tiles into a seamless raster. I've been using the ArcGIS Mosaic to New Raster Tool. It worked great on the first (smallest) dataset, but since then ArcGIS crashes after running for about 8 hours. I've tried the tool on a more power machine and with less tiles, but ArcGIS still keeps crashing.
I'm not sure what else to do here. I need to mosaic these tiles into one raster, but despite any changes to the options I keep getting the same result. I'm wondering if the Moasic to New Raster is the correct tool for this job, or should I be using something else?
I'm looking for a either a ArcGIS or python programming solution to this issue.
The options I am using for the Mosaic to New Raster Tool:
- Input: 500 to 2000 input tiles that are JP2
- Output: Save the new raster as a JP2
- Coordinate System: NAD83 17N to NAD83 17N
- Pixel Type: 8 Bit Unsigned to 8 Bit Unsigned
- Cellsize: 0.2 to 0.2 (varies, but the the cellsize stays the same from the input to the output)
- Band: 3 (4 in two dataets)
- Mosaic Method: I've tried pretty much every option here, the preferred is Blend.
- Colourmap: First (I haven't changed this at all yet)
Best Answer
I recommend creating a mosaic dataset within a file geodatabase. There are many advantages of working with this type of data model. For one, you can modify properties of the dataset once it is created to enhance rendering. You also have much finer control of how these data are served compared to a stand-alone raster dataset created using mosaic to new raster.
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