Should I load my raster data into a geodatabase?

Geoprocessing

majgis — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 04:19:11 GMT

I heard at the user conference that geoprocessing operations can be tediously slow on geodatabase rasters. It would be helpful if you included details on geoprocessing in this comparison.

re: Should I load my raster data into a geodatabase?

iKeepSmile — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:54:48 GMT

my company has 1TB/year raster data. It's very hard to decide whether to store it in a ArcSDE database or file format. I want to know is there any problem to manager these huge amount of data in a sde database, if the raster data size exceed 10TB.

re: majgis's question

simo3919 — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 17:19:34 GMT

"I heard at the user conference that geoprocessing operations can be tediously slow on geodatabase rasters. It would be helpful if you included details on geoprocessing in this comparison."

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In general, geoprocessing in a geodatabase should be relatively similar processing times as in a file based system. There are a few exceptions to this.

1) Mosaicking tends to be much faster in a geodatabase (as seen in a previous blog post).

2) Applying compression will increase the time it take to write a compressed raster to a geodatabase.

3) Any Spatial Analyst or 3D Analyst tool will take longer, since it is outputing everything to GRID and then converting to a geodatabase format.

Simon W.

ESRI - Team Raster

re: iKeepSmile's question

simo3919 — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 17:23:40 GMT

I want to know is there any problem to manage these huge amounts of data in an sde database, if the raster data size exceed 10TB.

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This is a very common question, and it is very complicated to answer since it is on a case to case interpretation on whether your project is suited for the geodatabase. We will come up with a more comprehesive decison tree and post it in an upcoming blog.

In terms of the amount of raster data, in house we have compiled ArcSDE databases with at least one terabyte of raster data. Some of our business partners have compiled ArcSDE databases of over 17,000 images totaling over 22 terabytes. So it is definitely possible to manage these large amounts of data.

Simon Woo

ESRI - Team Raster

Compare Image Server

mody — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 11:34:39 GMT

We (and some of our users) will be very happy if you can compare to Image Server and not to just images on disk.

Thanks

Mody Buchbinder

Systematics, Israel

re: Should I load my raster data into a geodatabase?

JonMurphy — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:15:56 GMT

Mody,

We've been getting feedback on the blog and elsewhere about image server. I'll be getting a post together and putting it up on the blog shortly which should help with your image server questions.

Jonathan Murphy