There are three groups of properties for a mosaic dataset: General, Default, and Multidimensional Info. The general properties are similar to those you find for all raster datasets, such as the data source, extent, cell sizes, and bit depth. The default properties are specific to the mosaic dataset and include all the nonraster dataset-specific information. These properties affect how the mosaicked image will be presented to the user (or client) and how they might interact with it. Mosaic datasets that are multidimensional-aware have properties that include metadata about the variables and their associated dimensions stored in the multidimensional mosaic dataset.
Any properties set on the mosaic layer in the Contents pane will only apply to the layer and are not stored with the mosaic dataset, such as the band combination or mosaic method. Therefore, if there are multiple users of the mosaic dataset, they will not be impacted by a layer setting used by another user. This is the same behavior as any dataset and layer.
You can access the Mosaic Dataset Properties dialog box via the Catalog pane by right-clicking the mosaic dataset and clicking Properties. Here, you can make modifications to these properties. You can edit the values on the dialog box by clicking the value next to the property. You will either be able to type a different value or make a selection from a list. You can also use the Set Mosaic Dataset Properties tool to modify the properties.
The properties on the Multidimensional Info tab list the variable name with its associated dimensions in parentheses. Under the variable heading, you can see the Property, Description, and Unit of the variable. The dimensions associated with the variable are listed in subgroups. You can view the Property, Description, and Unit of the dimension, along with the dimension interval, the minimum and maximum values of the dimension, the total number of steps in the dimension, and the values themselves. For more information, see An overview of multidimensional data in a mosaic dataset.
The properties on the Default tab can also impact the performance of the server or image service if the mosaic dataset is published. When publishing a mosaic dataset using ArcGIS Server, the server administrator can modify some of these properties as part of the settings on the image service; however, they will not be able to exceed the maximums you have set. For example, if you limit the allowed mosaic methods to only three of the methods, the administrator will not be able to add a fourth method. Or, if you set the maximum number of downloadable items, they can reduce the number but not increase this number. If you change the properties to exceed or limit a value, such as the Maximum Size Of Requests, you need to completely republish the mosaic dataset. If you restart the image service, the changed properties in the mosaic dataset will not be picked up.
Image properties
The following properties specify the format, size, and processing methods for your mosaic dataset:
- Maximum Size Of Requests—This property only applies when the mosaic dataset is published and accessed as an image service. The size is defined as the maximum number of rows and columns for each mosaicked image generated. By increasing these numbers, you will be increasing the time it takes to process the mosaicked image. However, you may want to increase these numbers if you are printing very large, high-resolution plots. By making these numbers too small, a mosaicked image may not display. For example, if you changed the numbers to 10, the display window could only be 10 pixels or smaller in dimension to display an image.
- Allowed Compression Methods—Defines the method of compression used to transmit the mosaicked image from the server to the client. This property affects an image service generated from the mosaic dataset. If accessing the image service over an LAN, large data volumes do not cause a problem. However, when working over slower connections on the internet, it would be better to apply a compression to the imagery before transmission. This compression reduces the size of transmitted imagery but puts an additional load on the server to compress the data first. This can be altered by the client.
- None—No compression is applied to the imagery, which provides the highest quality but results in the maximum volume of data transfer across the network.
- LZ77—An efficient lossless compression method recommended for imagery with similar pixel values (discrete data), such as scanned maps or results of classifications.
- JPEG—An efficient compression method that can often compress imagery by about three to eight times with little degradation of the image quality. When choosing the JPEG method, you can also edit the quality by typing a value from 0 to 100. A value of 80 tends to retain image quality while providing approximately 8x compression.
- LERC—An efficient lossy compression method recommended for data with a large pixel depth, such as float, 32-bit, 16-bit, or 12-bit data. When choosing this method, you need to specify the quality value, which represents the maximum error value that is applicable per pixel (not an average for the image). This value is specified in the units of the mosaic dataset. For example, if the error is 10 centimeters and the mosaic dataset is in meters, enter 0.1.
LERC compresses better (5 to 10 times) and faster (5 to 10 times) than LZ77 for float data and is better with integer data. When using integer data, and the error limit specified is 0.99 or less, LERC behaves as a lossless compression.
Default Resampling Method—Defines the default sampling method of the pixels, which are sampled to match the resolution of the user's display (or client request if published). The use or input of the data will impact the method you choose. This is also a property that is set on the mosaic dataset layer (or image service layer) and the user can change the setting on their layer—which will not change the mosaic dataset's default.
More accurate radiometry values are obtained using nearest neighbor sampling. This is generally faster but can result in jagged edges of features. Bilinear interpolation provides smoother images but can result in some smoothing of the image. Bilinear is recommended for continuous raster data. Cubic convolution is geometrically more accurate but slightly slower than bilinear interpolation. Majority is best applied to discrete data.
- Maximum Number Of Rasters Per Mosaic—Prevents the server from mosaicking an unreasonably large number of rasters if, for example, the client zooms in to an overview scale in a nonoptimized image service dataset that has no overview tiles generated. The default is 20.
- Cell Size Tolerance Factor—Used for controlling how mosaic dataset items with differing pixel sizes are grouped together for some operations, such as mosaicking or seamline generation. A factor of 0.1 means that all the LowPS values that are 10 percent larger than the lowest pixel size are considered to be the same. This value must be greater than or equal to 0.0. The results can be viewed in the Levels table (to access, right-click the mosaic dataset in the table of contents and click Open > Levels Table).
- Allowed Mosaic Methods—Defines the order of the rasters that are mosaicked together to create the image. You can choose one or more mosaic methods and specify one as the default method. The user is able to choose from the methods you select.
- Closest to Center—Enables rasters to be sorted based on the ZOrder, then PixelSize, and then by a default order where rasters that have their centers closest to the view center are placed on top.
- Closest to Nadir—Enables rasters to be sorted by the ZOrder, then PixelSize, and then by distance between the nadir position and view center. This is similar to the Closest to Center method but uses the nadir point to a raster, which may be different than the center, especially for oblique imagery.
- Closest to Viewpoint—Orders rasters based on the ZOrder, then PixelSize, and then by a user-defined location and nadir location for the rasters using the Viewpoint tool.
- By Attribute—Enables raster ordering based on the ZOrder, then PixelSize, and then by the defined metadata attribute and its difference from a base value.
- North-West—Enables raster ordering by the ZOrder, then PixelSize, and then by the shortest distance between the center of a raster and the northwest position.
- Seamline—Cuts the raster using the predefined seamline shape for each raster, using optional feathering along the seams, and orders images based on the ZOrder and then the SOrder fields in the attribute table.
- Lock Raster—Enables a user to lock the display of single or multiple rasters based on the ObjectID.
- None—Orders rasters based on the order (ObjectID) in the mosaic dataset attribute table.
Note:
The result of the mosaic method can be impacted by the ZOrder, which is used in determining how the rasters will be mosaicked together when using the Closest To Center, North-West, By Attribute, Closest To Nadir, or Closest To Viewpoint mosaic methods. With these mosaic methods, the rasters are always sorted by their ZOrder first.
- Default Sorting Order—Controls the expected ordering of the images defined by the mosaic methods. Ascending will order the images as expected. Descending will reverse the order. For example, if the mosaic method is Closest To Center and Descending is chosen, the image furthest from the center will be displayed.
- Default Mosaic Operator—Allows you to define how to resolve the overlapping cells, such as
choosing a blending operation.
- First—The overlapping areas will contain the cells from the first raster dataset listed in the source.
- Last—The overlapping areas will contain the cells from the last raster dataset listed in the source.
- Min—The overlapping areas will contain the minimum cell values from all the overlapping cells.
- Max—The overlapping areas will contain the maximum cell values from all the overlapping cells.
- Mean—The overlapping areas will contain the mean cell values from all the overlapping cells.
- Blend—The overlapping areas will be a blend of the cell values that overlap along the edge of each raster dataset in the mosaicked image. By default, the edge is defined by the footprint or the seamline for each raster.
- Sum—The overlapping areas will contain the total cell values from all the overlapping cells.
Blend Width—Defines the distance in pixels (at the display scale) used by the Blend mosaic operator.
This value will be divided in half across the edge; therefore, if the value is 40, 20 pixels will be blended on the inside of the footprint, and 20 pixels will be blended on the outside of the footprint.
If seamlines are present, a blending width and type can be defined for each seamline in the seamline table, thereby overriding this value.
- Viewpoint Settings—When the Closest to Viewpoint mosaic method is used, these settings will be applied:
- Viewpoint x and y spacing—Defines an offset that is used to calculate where the center of the area of interest (display view) is when you click an arrow button on the Viewpoint dialog box. These values are calculated in the units of the spatial reference system of the mosaic dataset.
- Always Clip The Raster To Its Footprint—You can choose whether to limit the extent of each raster to its footprint.
- Footprints May Contain NoData—You can choose whether the NoData is a valid pixel value. If Yes, if the mosaic method uses rasters that contain NoData, the mosaicked image will contain NoData values (and the application will not search for an overlapping raster that contains different pixel values). If No, the application will try to find values to fill in the NoData using overlapping rasters.
- Always Clip The Mosaic Dataset To Its Boundary—You can choose to limit the image extent to the geometry of the boundary or to the extent of the boundary. When set to Yes, it limits the image extent to the geometry of the boundary. When set to No, it clips the image extent to the extent of the boundary.
- Apply Color Correction—If there is a color correction method in place for the mosaic dataset, you can choose to apply it when using the Closest to Viewpoint mosaic method.
- Minimum Pixel Contribution—You can choose the tolerance for the minimum pixel contribution. This defines the minimum number of pixels needed within the area of interest for a mosaic dataset item to be considered part of that area. The default value is one pixel. A large value may decrease the likelihood of having an overlapping item being part of the area of interest; this may cause some areas of your mosaic dataset to be empty. This property is only valid when Always Clip The Raster To Its Footprint is set to Yes and Footprints May Contain NoData is set to No. This property is only helpful when you have multiple overlapping rasters in your mosaic dataset.
Catalog properties
The following options specify which meta data will be visible to the client and limits how the mosaic datset will be returned by the server:
- Raster Metadata Level—Defines how much metadata will be transmitted from the server to the client. This can affect the transmission time when there is a lot of metadata to transmit; therefore, you may choose to limit it. To do so, choose from the following options:
- Full—The basic raster dataset information and the function chain's details will be transmitted. This is the default.
- Basic—The raster dataset level of information will be transmitted, such as the columns and rows, cell size, and spatial reference information.
- None—No metadata will be transmitted.
- Maximum Number Of Records Returned Per Request—Limits the requested number of records that will be returned by the server when viewing the mosaic dataset as a published image service.
- Allowed Fields—Defines which fields from the attribute table will be visible to the client when the mosaic dataset is served.
- Geographic Coordinate System Transformation—If the spatial reference system of the mosaic dataset is based on a different spheroid than the spatial reference system of the source raster data, you may need to specify a specific geographic transformation. This parameter gives you access to a dialog box to help you pick the geographic transformation. For more information on transformation methods, see Geographic Transformations (Environment setting).
Note:
Starting at ArcGIS Pro 2.3, the Raster and URI BLOB fields of the mosaic dataset catalog are compressed before they are written to the geodatabase mosaic dataset catalog table. Compressing these fields saves space and reduces network and disk input and output.
You will not be able to read the catalog records of a mosaic dataset that contains compressed values if you use a version earlier than ArcGIS Pro 1.3. If you cannot read compressed Raster and URI fields, the imagery of these rows will not display, or you may see the error Invalid pointer function parameter [AMD_<md>_CAT], where <md> is the name of a mosaic dataset.
In this case, you need to set the system environment variable USE_COMPRESSED_OBJECTS to either N, n, FALSE, false, or 0. This disables the compression of the Raster and URI BLOB fields before they are written to the geodatabase mosaic dataset catalog table.
Time properties
Time—If the mosaic dataset contains attribute fields that define time, you can create a mosaic dataset that will automatically be time aware, meaning the time properties in the layer will be defined by default. You can define the field for the start time and end time and the time format. It is recommended that you store time values in a date field; however, string and numeric fields are also supported.
Download properties
The download properties limit the data size for items that can be downloaded for each request:
- Maximum number of items downloadable per request—Limits the number of rasters that a client can download from an image service. You may want to set this to 0 if you do not want a client to download any rasters from within your mosaic dataset. Optionally, this value can affect the load. You may want to adjust this number depending on how you want clients to use their image services.
Note:
Source files stored using the Grid raster format cannot be downloaded.
- Maximum Download Size Per Request—This is the total number of megabytes that can be downloaded at one time.