Available with Spatial Analyst license.
The ArcGIS Spatial Analyst extension accepts as input all relevant raster, feature, and table formats that are supported by ArcGIS. While many formats are natively supported by Spatial Analyst as input, only certain formats are supported for output.
Raster data
Spatial Analyst can operate on raster data that is either file based or in a geodatabase.
Input raster data formats
In general, all the input raster formats supported by ArcGIS are natively processed by Spatial Analyst tools.
Being able to read the supported raster formats directly eliminates any conversion step that may have otherwise created intermediate temporary files when running operations on certain data formats. The benefits of this are reduced processing times as well as reduced disk space consumption.
Output raster data formats
The supported output raster formats are the following:
- Geodatabase rasters
- TIFF (.tif)
- Esri Grid
- CRF raster (.crf)
- ERDAS IMAGINE (.img)
The location and name you specify for the output raster determines the format in which it is created.
ArcGIS supports fewer raster formats for output than it does for input, and Spatial Analyst specifically supports fewer output raster formats than ArcGIS does in general. However, once an output raster has been created, you can convert it to another format with the Copy Raster tool.
Feature data
Certain Spatial Analyst tools can operate on feature data as input or produce feature data as output.
Input feature data
All supported feature classes for ArcGIS Pro of the appropriate type are natively processed by Spatial Analyst tools as input.
Output feature data
For output, the supported feature types are point, multipoint, polyline, and polygon, depending on the particular geoprocessing tool being used.
The feature class can be created in a geodatabase, or if in an output folder, as a shapefile.
Creation of temporary (scratch) data
When running Spatial Analyst tools that operate on raster or feature data, some situations may cause the software to create intermediate or scratch files in the process of the operation. After the operation completes and the output has been created, the scratch files are deleted.
You can set the location where these scratch files are created with the Scratch workspace environment.
Limitations of data formats
You may encounter limits for some data formats when creating output. The following topics discuss these format limitations:
Multiband raster data
When a multiband raster is used as input, many Spatial Analyst tools operate only on the first band.
The exceptions include certain tools in the Multivariate and Extraction toolsets, which process each of the bands in a multiband input and can create a multiband output. Consult the individual tool references for more details.
Mosaic datasets
Any Spatial Analyst tool that supports raster as input can operate on mosaic datasets.
Mosaic datasets can be extremely large (hundreds of thousands of rows and columns of cells), so running any analytical tools on them can consume a lot of system resources and take a lot of time. It is important to consider limiting the analysis extent or data resolution in your operations.
Analytical cell size for mosaic datasets with multiple resolutions
Mosaic datasets can contain multiple resolutions of raster data. It is important to use the appropriate cell size for the type of analysis being done.
Use the Calculate Cell Size Ranges tool to compute the minimum and maximum cell sizes for the rasters in a mosaic dataset.
Mosaic dataset raster limits
Mosaic datasets will have a limit on the number of individual rasters that can be analyzed at one time. If this limit is exceeded, areas of NoData may appear in the output.
This limit is controlled by the Maximum Number Of Rasters Per Mosaic property, located in the Image properties section of the Mosaic dataset properties
Rules for overlapping rasters
Mosaicking rules determine how overlapping individual rasters are handled. More details on how to control the mosaicking are available in the Mosaic layer topic.
To control which layers are used and how they are collated, see the mosaic method option of the Make Mosaic Layer tool.
Other mosaic dataset properties also influence how the individual rasters are handled in the mosaicking process. These include Allowed Mosaic Methods, Default Sorting Order, and Default Mosaic Operator. Some properties, such as Default Resampling Method, will affect the pixel quality.
Geoprocessing analysis environments for mosaic datasets
In most cases, you must define one or more of the following geoprocessing environments to control the analysis:
- Cell Size
Use this environment to control the resolution of the output raster.
- Cell Size Projection Method
Use this environment to specify how the output raster cell size will be calculated when datasets are projected during analysis.
- Output Extent
Use this environment to control the area of the output raster.
- Snap Raster
Use this environment to match the cell alignment of the output raster to another existing raster.
Image services
You can perform Spatial Analyst operations only on certain types of services, such as image services or WCS services. Other types of services, such as map services or the layers within them, cannot be used as input to Spatial Analyst tools.
Considerations for processing image services
Image services are created from raster datasets and mosaic datasets. Consequently, all of the issues in the previous section pertaining to mosaic datasets will also apply when using image services as input.
Caution:
Pay attention to the Maximum Size Of Requests property, which is used to limit the numbers of rows and columns that can be analyzed at one time. If this limit is exceeded, the operation will not complete.
When working with image services, first use the Make Image Server Layer tool to create an image service layer. This allows you to define many of the properties, including the extent (template) and cell size.
Geoprocessing analysis environments and image services
As with mosaic datasets, you must define the Output Extent and Cell Size geoprocessing environments to control the analysis.