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I'm trying to mosaic a very large number of rasters (from 1000 to a maximum of 30000, each one having a very small size, less than 100 kb) into a unique final raster.

I have tried to use the Mosaic To New Raster tool available at:

ArcToolbox > Raster > Raster Dataset

I encounter some issues when I choose the input files from the input folder:

enter image description here

because I need to wait a huge amount of time before viewing the files loaded into the main dialog (I know this is certainly related to my PC performances). Even if, in some cases, I'm able to load all the input files, the duration of the analysis is very long due to the number of the files.

From some comments on this question, it seems that it should be avoided the writing of raster data to a personal geodatabase. I set the Default.gdb for the Output Location parameter, but I don't understand very well its role.

Since I'm unfamiliar with ArcGIS, is there a more efficient way for the mosaicing of a large number of input rasters? Any workaround or method for avoiding the overloading of the PC resources?

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  • 2
    This "preliminary loading" is ArcGIS checking every image you pass to it to check that it is compatible with the tool. – Midavalo♦ Feb 20 '17 at 19:30
  • Thanks, @Midavalo. So, I imagine I can't avoid it. Do you think it may change something if I set a specific location for writing the output? – mgri Feb 20 '17 at 20:08
  • What type of data are you working with? – Aaron♦ Feb 20 '17 at 20:23
  • @Aaron It's a mosaic of several .asc files covering a whole country. The main issue is not the quality of the output, but the fact that ArcGIS is near to crash if I try to import all the files at the same time. However, if I set an output filename instead of a .gdb as Output Location, it seems to work faster. Since I'm not an expert of ArcGIS, I need to proceed with trial&error :) – mgri Feb 20 '17 at 20:28
  • I would avoid writing to a geodatabase and opt for a raster format such as IMG. Also, make sure you have 64 bit background geoprocessing available (Geoprocessing > Geoprocessing Options > Background processing > Enable – Aaron♦ Feb 20 '17 at 20:34
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I'd suggest one of two approaches:

  1. Split your mosaic operation into several steps and then mosaic the mosaics. I've done this before.

  2. Build a model in ModelBuilder and use the mosaic tool (not mosaic as new raster) and then copy the raster making sure to overwrite the original name. This will have the effect of accumulating the values.

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