International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume XXXIX-B4, 2012 
XXII ISPRS Congress, 25 August — 01 September 2012, Melbourne, Australia 
be accessed by web users using ArcGIS Server, an ArcGIS 
product that publishes GIS resources as web services. 
2.3.1 Storage scheme 
A mosaic dataset manages images using a set of internal 
components in the geodatabase (the geodatabase is a way of 
managing geographic datasets in file system or database within 
ArcGIS): 
1) A footprint table contains a geometric field for storing the 
polygons of the image footprints, a raster field stores raster values 
that are composed from references to the image data, along with 
the raster functions which will be used to process the image data 
on-the-fly, the MinPS and a MaxPS fields define the visible 
ranges of the rasters, and many other fields are automatically 
populated based on metadata information when images are added 
to the mosaic dataset—such as sensor names, acquisition data, 
cloud cover, and so on. (Figure 5) 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
OBJECTID| Raster Name MinPS | MaxPS *} LowPS *! HighPS} Category 
4280 | «Raster» p021r003 7x20000506 met 285 1140 285 114 Primary i MS 
4282 | «Raster» p021r004_7x20000724 met 28.5 1140 28.5 114 Primary i MS 
4284 | «Raster» p021r005 7x20000724 met 28.5 1140 28.5 114 Primary i MS 
» 4286 |<Raster= >; p021r005_7x20000724 met 285 1140 285 114 Primary : MS 
4288 | «Raster» p021r007 7x20000724.met 285 1140 285 114 Primary i MS 
4290 | «Raster» p021r011 7x20020730.met 28.5 1140 28.5 114 Primary : MS 
4292 | «Raster» p021r012_7x20010711 met 285 1140 285 114 Primary i MS 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Figure 5. Fields in the footprint table 
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= 438 AMD_landsat_CAT\Raster,OBJECTID = 4286 
+ fy Stretch Function 
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zi. f Composite Band Function 
ii fg RasterInfo Function 
465 pO21r006_7t20000724_222_nn10.tif 
“iJ RasterInfo Function 
dili po21r006. 7t20000724 222. nn20.ti 
= A RasterInfo Function 
dB po21r006 7t20000724 222 nn30.ti 
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3- fic RasterInfo Function 
41  p021r006 7t20000724 222 nn70.tif 
  
  
  
  
  
Figure 6: Raster function chain used to create 
the raster value in the mosaic dataset 
2) A boundary table defines the boundary of the image collection. 
The boundary is computed by the union of the image footprints; 
however, it can be edited if certain pixels need to be excluded 
from the display. 
3) A raster type table stores raster type instances that are used 
when crawling and adding data to the mosaic dataset. A raster 
type is a template that defines raster properties and processes 
based on sensor platform specification. It is used to construct the 
raster when adding data to the mosaic dataset. (Figure 6) 
4) If calculated, a mosaic dataset may contain a seamline table 
which is used to store the seamline features for seamline 
mosaicking. 
5) If calculated, a mosaic dataset may also contain a color 
correction table which stores the image statics for color 
correction. 
96 
6) A mosaic dataset contains many other components such as a 
log table which stores the operations that have been performed on 
the mosaic dataset, mosaic rules which are used to define the 
sorting order for visualizing the rasters in the mosaic dataset, and 
many properties for accessing and display the mosaic dataset. 
2.3.2 Display mechanism 
A mosaic dataset is displayed as a composite layer of Footprint, 
Boundary, and Image which provides a virtual mosaic view of the 
rasters within the mosaic dataset (Figure 7). It can also contain a 
seamline layer if it is computed. During zooming and panning, the 
rasters that meet the given extent and visible range request will be 
selected and sorted based on the user specified mosaic rule and 
create a virtual seamless mosaic on the fly. For example, you can 
visualize the mosaic dataset using the Closest To Center mosaic 
method, which will sort the rasters based on the distance to the 
center of the display, or by the Seamline method which will use 
the seamline features to mosaic the selected rasters. 
    
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Figure 7. Catalog and mosaic view of a mosaic dataset 
created from Landsat 7 ETM+ scenes 
2.3.3 Use of mosaic dataset 
The mosaic dataset can be used in many applications including 
creating ortho image mosaics, creating ortho image tiles, image 
cataloging, and searching. 
1) Create ortho image mosaics or ortho image tiles: The mosaic 
dataset supports on-demand image processing. You can add 
images from different sensor platforms to a mosaic dataset. While 
adding data, the image processing will be defined based on user 
specified raster types. The processes normally include image 
georeferencing,  orthorectification, ^ pan-sharpening, image 
enhancement, etc. Additional processes such as color correction 
and seamline generation can be performed on the mosaic dataset 
to create seamless, color-balanced mosaics. The following 
geoprocessing model (Figure 8) shows the steps to create three 
types of ortho image products: first, a mosaic dataset that provides 
a dynamic image mosaic; second, an orthorectified mosaic stored 
in a well-known format such as a TIFF file, which can be used in 
any software package, and third, a folder of ortho image tiles that 
is based on a user defined tile size. 
  
  
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