[Gdal-dev] The perfect raster format - which is it?

[Garrett Potts]

Hello Tim:

I would use TIFF.  Note,  GDAL contains BigTIff support.  I have been  
using BigTiff now for a month and have written out and used ~100  
Gigabyte file and some more than that.  You could always try PACKBITS  
or LZW For TIFF.

Take care

Garrett

On Nov 19, 2007, at 11:33 PM, Tim Sutton wrote:

> Hi
>
> Sorry I should have listed bands and colour depth in my requirements.
> Here is the revised list then:
>
> - produce the most compact file size
> - supports byte output ( no need for float or larger colour depths)
> - support nodata
> - is writeable by gdal
> - and (for special bonus points) is readable by ArcView 3.x and  
> ArcMap >=8
> - only single band required
> - lossless compression required
>
> Currently we are using HFA which is great except for lack of nodata
> support (theres a patch in gdal trac which adds that but it will be a
> while before that filters down into distros etc after it has been
> applied to gdal svn). Second snag with HFA is that it doesnt work (for
> us anyway) on both ArcMap 8 and ArcView 3.x.
>
> Tiff is our second choice but the compression seems to require some
> kind of plugin in ArcMap so thats a bit of a bind...and the 4GB file
> size limit is sometimes hit due to inability to use compression  :-(
>
> So I was just wondering if there was anything else in terms of format
> support that I may be overlooking.
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Regards
>
> Tim
>
> 2007/11/19, Simon Perkins <sy at perkins.net>:
>>
>>  Agreed, though Erdas .img (AKA "HFA" format) is what they're already
>> using...
>>
>>  Cheers!
>>
>>  Sy
>>
>>
>>
>>  Martin Chapman wrote:
>>  I agree with Simon. GeoTiff is great. Erdas .img is also really  
>> good and
>> doesn't have the 4GB limit.
>>
>> Martin Chapman
>> Chief Software Architect
>> Fortified Datacom Inc.
>> http://www.fortifieddatacom.com
>> mchapman at fortifieddatacom.com
>> 303-324-1065
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: gdal-dev-bounces at lists.maptools.org
>> [mailto:gdal-dev-bounces at lists.maptools.org] On Behalf Of
>> Simon Perkins
>> Sent: Monday, November 19, 2007 1:06 PM
>> To: Tim Sutton
>> Cc: Renato De Giovanni; gdal-dev at lists.maptools.org
>> Subject: Re: [Gdal-dev] The perfect raster format - which is it?
>>
>> To throw in my 2c, the answer is of course: it all depends...
>>
>> For instance, you don't say if you need data types other than  
>> byte, or a
>> number of bands other than 1 or 3, or whether lossy compression is
>> acceptable, or whether your images are targeted at a particular
>> community, or whether you want to do random access updates, or  
>> whether
>> you need to store images larger than 4GB, or whether you need
>> georeferencing support, or arbitrary metadata support, or...
>>
>> Generically though, GeoTIFF is perhaps the most complete non- 
>> proprietary
>> format supported by GDAL. However it suffers from the severe problem
>> that standard TIFF files have a 4GB file size limit (you can create
>> BIGTIFF files with unlimited file size, but not all readers will read
>> them). Also, multi-band and non-byte support is not part of the core
>> spec so different applications may or may not support it. Also,  
>> not all
>> readers support the deflate compression method, which is the only  
>> decent
>> lossless compression TIFF offers.
>>
>> You might also consider JPEG2000, which supports a wide variety of
>> storage formats, including lossy or lossless compression.
>>
>> I'm surprised that HFA doesn't support NODATA though.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Sy
>>
>>
>> Tim Sutton wrote:
>>
>>
>>  Hi All
>>
>> OK I know its a loaded question, but which format and format options
>> are the 'best' in terms of:
>>
>> - produce the most compact file size
>> - supports byte output
>> - support nodata
>> - is writeable by gdal
>> - and (for special bonus points) is readable by ArcView 3.x and  
>> ArcMap >=8
>>
>> Previously we've been using HFA but lack of nodata support is an  
>> issue
>> and it does not seem to work well under both ArcMap and ArcGIS.
>>
>> Any tips on the subject will be greatly appreciated.
>>
>> Regards
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>>
>
>
> -- 
> Tim Sutton
> QGIS Project Steering Committee Member - Release  Manager
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