1. Click Customize on the Main menu and click ArcMap Options (or ArcCatalog Options, depending on the application you are using).
2. Click the Raster tab in the Options window.
3. Within the Raster tab, click Raster Dataset and check the Use world file to define the coordinates of the raster check box.
4. Click OK.

The Tif images are now viewable in ArcGIS Desktop 10! See this help item for more information.

Why doesn’t ArcGIS 10 automatically read the world file?

GeoTIFF images have internal georeferencing in the form of GeoTIFF tags that store geospatial information for the image. If present the GeoTIFF tags “trump” any georeferencing information specified in the world file, unless the option “Use world file to define the coordinates of the raster” is checked. If a source does not contain any coordinate system or georeferencing information or if the file does not exist, the next source is used. The priority is:

1) Image Header
2) AUX file (has the same name as the raster, with an .aux extension)
3) World file (for a TIFF: .tfw, for a JPG: .jgw, etc.)

For more information please refer to this link:

http://support.esri.com/en/knowledgebase/techarticles/detail/18643

Keera P

• Thom Mackey kicked the night off with an interesting talk around the new stuff with Python at 10.1.
• Allison McKnight followed with a talk around ArcGIS Runtime which led to some discussion around ArcObjects/Engine/MapObjects.
• Simon Hope from Geoplex did a talk on their exporter extension for ArcGIS Server which allows you to export your data into GeoRSS format.  slides here.
• (Pizza/beer break)
• Stephen Salathiel from DSE presented some history on how they developed their Burns Assessment Tool and how they were making use of Python/ArcPy/TKinter to achieve this.
• Nav Sushil from Lonely Planet talked about how they come up with their beautiful maps by making use of ArcGIS Desktop/Adobe Illustrator/Microsoft Excel & Word and issues they encountered along the way.

Was great to have such a good turnout and great talks for our first dev meetup. You can see some photos from the event here.

We will aim to have another one later in the year, so please register interest via our Meetup page.

To access the tool you will need to install service pack 2:

http://resources.arcgis.com/content/patches-and-service-packs?fa=viewPatch&PID=17&MetaID=1752

Then add the tool from the customize menu:

Once the tool has been added you can select and continue digitising an existing feature (line or polygon) so its shape can be updated.

What to learn more? Visit our training website for information on our 1 day What’s New in Editing training course:

http://esriaustralia.com.au/training

If you are using Windows XP, you can use the Add/Remove Programs window to view and uninstall service packs or patches. For more details visit this link.

But if you’re using Windows 7, the workflow is slightly different.

i)     Open Control Panel

ii)    Navigate ‘Programs and Features’-> ‘View installed updates’

iii)  Navigate ‘ArcGIS Desktop 10 Service Pack x’-> Right Click and Uninstall.

Keera P

There are quite a few ways to distribute this custom toolbox:

1. If the Tool is only required in the System Toolboxes section of the Catalog Window, one can simply place the ToolBox in the location C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\Desktop10.0\ArcToolbox\Toolboxes

2. If the tool box is required in the MyToolboxes section of the Catalog window, then the custom toolboxes can be placed here:
C:\Users\<Current User>\AppData\Roaming\ESRI\Desktop10.0\ArcToolbox\My Toolboxes

3. Another way to get the toolboxes (from a custom location) to show up in the My Toolboxes section is to specify a custom location of the “MyToolboxes” folder in the registry:

WARNING: The instructions below include making changes to essential parts of your operating system. It is recommended that you backup your operating system and files, including the registry, before proceeding. Consult with a qualified computer systems professional, if necessary. 

Esri Australia cannot guarantee results from incorrect modifications while following these instructions; therefore, use caution and proceed at your own risk.

Type RegEdit in the command line and when the registry editor opens navigate to HKEY_Current_User\Software\ESRI\Desktop10.0\ArcToolbox\Settings

(If this does not exist – create it).
In the settings key, right-click and select New > String Value and change the name of the string value to “My Toolboxes Folder” (no quotes). Double-click “My Toolboxes Folder” and change the data value to the new location of the My Toolboxes Folder. The location specified will become a default location for MyToolboxes list in the Catalog Window.

Some users may want to have a custom toolbox installed together with the ArcGIS Desktop software. Well, the addition of the custom toolboxes is not something that is possible to be set during the installation of the software itself but this can be done with an extra step once the software is installed and authorized on the users machines.
You can use a simple script to copy the custom toolbox from a network location and place it in the folder locations so that the toolboxes appear in the ‘System Toolboxes’ or ‘My Toolboxes’ section.

You can paste the script like the following one to the Notepad and save it as *.bat file

Xcopy  /s  c:\source  d:\target

The above script simply copies files from c:\source to d:\target (for example from the network folder to C:\Users\<current user>\AppData\Roaming\ESRI\Desktop10.0\ArcToolbox\My Toolboxes) . You can modify this to have it copy files from a network location to a location on the ArcGIS Desktop machine which will show the toolboxes in the System Toolboxes folder.

Once the bat file is created you can double-click on it to run or ask you IT to add it to the silent installation script used to install and authorise ArcGIS Desktop 10.

Happy geoprocessing with your custom toolboxes!

Ivan E

It’s an excellent starting point if you need to plan or document symbology at the beginning of a project.
[Note: Even though ArcGIS 10 does not yet have a version of this 9.3 document, many of the symbols are the same. If a version of this document becomes available for ArcGIS 10, we will be sure to post it---so stay tuned!]

For more reading see this link 

Keera P.

Thanks go to the Esri team for explaining this new notation in the Spatial Analyst module of arcpy (arcpy.sa).  The arcpy.sa module calculates rasters more effectively than the Raster Calculator at 9.x, as it uses the number crunching power of Python.  Also, dot notation for multiple bands no longer works in the Raster Calculator at 10, so this code is a optimised replacement for this loss in functionality.

In this example, Band 3 is Red, Band 5 is Near IR.

To run this script, open IDLE or another IDE (like PythonWin, PyChecker, or WingIDE), and create a new script.  Copy and paste the below script and paste into that new script.  Then you need to read the green comments, and replace the CAPITALISED sections.  It will create a few outputs, like NDVI and Red band rasters.  These can be deleted once you are happy with the result.

____________________copy below into IDE__________________

#import modules arcpy and string

import arcpy, string

#import the environment settings and spatial analyst extension

from arcpy import env
from arcpy.sa import *

#Check out the Spatial Analyst extension (must be available to check out!)

arcpy.CheckOutExtension(“spatial“)

#Add your workspace here

env.workspace = r”C:YOURWORKSPACE“

#set the input raster here (will need to be inside the workspace shown above)

input = r”YOURRASTERFILE.tif“

#Create raster directory and specify inputs. It references the input you specified above
result = “FINALNDVIOUTPUTNAME.tif“
NIR = input + “\Band_5“
Red = input + “\Band_3“

#Define outputs – Note:  These will need to be deleted if you need to run this script again
NIR_out = “NIR.tif“
Red_out = “Red.tif“

#Copy raster and map algebra – makes new rasters of Red and NearIR
arcpy.CopyRaster_management(NIR, NIR_out)
print “Copied NIR band as raster“
arcpy.CopyRaster_management(Red, Red_out)
print “Copied Red band as raster“

#Create Numerator and Denominator rasters as variables and NDVI output (note that arcpy.sa.Float returns a floating point raster)

Num = arcpy.sa.Float(Raster(NIR_out) – Raster(Red_out))
Denom = arcpy.sa.Float(Raster(NIR_out) + Raster(Red_out))
NIR_eq = arcpy.sa.Divide(Num, Denom)
print “Dividing“

#Saving output to result output you specified above
NIR_eq.save(result)
print “Successful“

____________________________________________

If you don’t think you are using Spatial Analyst to it’s full extent, perhaps have a look at the Spatial Analyst training course?

Happy NDVI-ing.

Kath S

I find the easiest way to create dynamic SQL query strings in Python is to use the string formatting syntax (official documentation; clearer tutorial). As a quick overview, it means you can do something like:

variable_name = "I am a variable"
print "This string has a variable coming up next: %s" % variable_name

which prints

"This string has a variable coming up next: I am a variable"

So that’s exactly the same as saying

"This string has a variable coming up next: " + variable_name

Except it is a little more formal, and a little more clear in certain circumstances. In particular when you’re constructing long strings out of many variables, it’s a little easier to handle, e.g.

var_1 + " " + var_2 + " some static text " + var_3 + "!"

becomes

"%s %s some static text %s!"%(var_1,var_2,var_3)

It’s particularly handy for SQL queries which involve all that nasty '"'+var_1+'"'+"'"+val_1+"'" business! So in the most basic case you’d say

sql_query = '"%s" = \'%s\'' % (field_name,value_to_select)

Which, while still not easy on the eye, is a little more intelligible. Note the escaping-out of the single quotes around the %s because we used single quotes to define the string. You could just as easily use

sql_query = "\"%s\" = '%s'" % (field_name,value_to_select)

Up to you. You can expand the concept as needed to involve as many fields and variables as you need, and the result is basically always more readable than any combination of quotes, plusses, spaces, and backslashes!

There are more advanced methods for string formatting in Python, too; the link at the top is a good place to start.

It’s also worth noting that as of Python 2.6 (used in ArcGIS 10.0), the method of string formatting discussed in this post is technically old hat. If you’re using ArcGIS 10.0 and/or Python 2.6 or greater, you should be using the new str.format() method detailed here. To quote the documentation:

This method of string formatting is the new standard in Python 3.0, and should be preferred to the % formatting … in new code.

However, it’s not supported in Python versions <= 2.5, so if you’re in an ArcGIS 9.3.1 environment you’ll need to use the % formatting as detailed in this post. The % formatting will work just fine in 10.0, and will still work in code run under ArcGIS 10.1, which uses Python 2.7.

Thom M

- First make a back up of your image service (.ISDef).

- Using the ArcMap selection tools, select the source image to replace (this should select all associated overviews at the same time). You might need to zoom to the source image to achieve this.

- Remove the selected images from the service: Image Service > Advanced > Remove Raster Dataset. In the dialogue box that comes up, tick ‘Remove raster data set’, ‘Delete raster process definition files’ (as long as the selected files are not being used by another service) and ‘Delete derived images’.

- Once the images are removed, build the service: Image Service > Advanced > Build. In the dialogue box, tick on the ‘Compute pixel size’ and ‘Create service boundary tick’ options.

- On completion of the build, add in the replacement source image: Image Service > Advanced > Add Raster Data Set.

- Build the overviews once more: Image Service > Advanced > Build. Again tick on the ‘Compute pixel size’ and ‘Create service boundary tick’ options.

- Next define the overviews: Image Service > Advanced > Optimise > Service Overviews > Define (accept default options)

- Make sure the overviews look correct and then build overviews a final time: Image Service > Advanced > Build. This time in the dialogue box, tick on the ‘Generate derived image’ and ‘Compile service’ options.

- Your image service is now updated

John H