Image Management

Raster display in ArcGIS
GIS users display imagery and raster data within their GIS maps and views. Imagery is most commonly created from sensors carried on satellites and aircraft.

Raster data sources are also generated and displayed as the results of numerous analytical models -- for example, generating a detailed digital elevation model from a terrain dataset or calculating a weighted overlay for analysis.

Useful links for image display

• ArcGIS users often start by adding imagery to a map document in ArcMap or a 3D display in ArcScene or ArcGlobe. For more information on raster mapping and visualization in ArcGIS, see Displaying Rasters.
• Increasingly, users are deploying image services using ArcGIS Server on the web. This makes it easy to open up access to your image data and to openly serve imagery using XML SOAP, REST, WMS, and WCS.

Many image frameworks provide a GIS base map

In many situations, GIS users have assembled raster mosaics as an image base map. They have done this work by storing the mosaics in formats such as JPEG 2000, MrSID, ER Mapper ECW, and many other data formats. In other situations, users have stored their mosaics as raster datasets in the geodatabase.

All of these alternatives are used to provide an image base map onto which organizations add their operational information as additional map overlays.

ArcGIS supports image use for display in three key ways:

• Many users want to leverage their existing image data in ArcGIS. ArcGIS supports many raster data formats, enabling these data to be directly accessed and used.
• ArcGIS Server image services enable raster datasets and mosaics to quickly put raster information into use throughout your organization.
• The optional ArcGIS Image extension for ArcGIS Server enables you to serve mosaics and views, dynamically created from collections of original images. This helps users get imagery into use quickly. This revolutionary concept is helping users move away from creating static mosaics to a more flexible and efficient use of their original, rich image sources.