Inconsistent raster image display in ArcMap

Question

I loaded a WorldView 2 satellite image into ArcMap 10.5, however the tiles display in an inconsistent color and shade. All 9 tiles are from the same WorldView image.

How can I get them to display in a consistent pattern in ArcMap?

Answer 1

If it's not already done, create a Mosaic Raster dataset with all your tiles.

Then right click on your dataset and choose the option Enhance and then Color Balance.

Here you can choose some algorithms in order to enhance the color balance.

Choose for Color surface option "FIRST ORDER" or "SECOND ORDER" or "THIRD ORDER" This option will change the order of the polynomial color smoothing algorithm.

Take into account that:

• This operation will modify your data, it's not a display render effect.
• The result won't be perfect, since it will balance the color on a large scale, but not on a small scale, so you will likely keep some visible edge between some tiles.

Answer 2

You should also be able to accomplish this if you create a raster catalog. There are a few caveats, though, as you'll need to perform additional processes like calculating statistics and histograms. You can read more about it in this reference link.

Answer 3

You can also do a non-data-changing correction using the Image Analysis window. Select the affected tiles in the window and use the DRA button so sampling is done from the current display extent not the entire layer. Then play with the other image enhancement options. Not as good as a mosaic.

We use small tiles with scale limits in the lyr file, because they are great for super closeups, but the larger mosaic files are better for most map backgrounds.

Answer 4

I would suggest loading the .TIL or .IMD file instead of the individual TIFFs. ArcMap will treat it as a single image rather than several independent TIFFs.

Here's a video demonstration (not mine):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJcz0c31S-U