Deleting rows from attribute table for large raster file using ArcGIS model builder

Question

I'm not super familiar with raster datasets, so I may be making this too complicated. I have a large vegetation type raster that I need to convert to a shapefile. When I do raster to polygon, the file size exceeds the 2GB limit.

I can separate out the vegetation types I need in the attribute table window by turning on editing, selecting by expression, switching the selection, and then deleting the ones I don't need. I'm trying to automate this in model builder (so I can easily repeat with different veg type combinations). I can use select by attribute to get the selection I need, but I can't find any way to delete rows for a raster dataset within model builder.

Answer 1

I can think of a few things that might help you here.

First of all, you can initially work with a file geodatabase instead of shapefiles, if that helps you to get around the 2GB limit. If your output needs to be shapefile then that may not help too much but perhaps it gets you to the next step in your workflow.

Next if you are trying to delete land cover types, why not eliminate them in the raster first. Use "Reclass" or the "Raster Calculator" to eliminate land cover classes that you are not interested in. Perhaps turn them into NoData in the raster output.

Remember that using Reclass or the Raster Calculator you can convert classes into other classes to alleviate the need to delete any categories. Hope this helps!