Clipping raster with another raster, then mosaic both of them?

Question

I have two raster tiff files one is a raster that I created from 2 Foot contour lines, the other raster file is a small area that was surveyed to half a foot accuracy.

Is there a way to essentially clip the area out of the 2ft raster where my survey raster resides and then mosaic or merge the survey raster with the 2ft raster?

Answer 1

Yes you can. This method (used in arcmap 10.1) will answer your question, but there are other ways to do it

1. Use the tool Raster Domain to create footprint polygons of the two raster extents.
2. Merge the two foot prints together to create one shape.
3. Start editing the merged polygon and then clip (under the editor tool bar) the survey raster footprint from the 2ft raster footprint. At this stage you can either delete the survey raster footprint from the merged shapefile, or use a definition query to remove it.
4. At this point, you should now have a shapefile with a hole in it.
5. Using the tool Clip, use the 2ft raster as the “Input Raster” and the shape from point 4, as the Output Extent. You will need to ensure that the "Use Input Features for Clipping Geometry" box is checked. Assign an "Output Raster Dataset" and click ok.
6. Use the tool Mosaic to New Raster to merge the two rasters together.

Alternatively, you could just jump to step 6 and manage the merge using Mosaic to New Raster's parameters for its Mosaic Operator. However, if you use the Blend option, I would suggest using steps 1-6 above, but have an overlap of the two data sets to help the blend transition.

Its always good practice to check the areas of the joins in the new mosaic to ensure that there no anomalies in height.

Licence information:

Mosaic To New Raster:

• ArcGIS for Desktop Basic: Yes
• ArcGIS for Desktop Standard: Yes
• ArcGIS for Desktop Advanced: Yes

Clip (Data Management):

• ArcGIS for Desktop Basic: Yes
• ArcGIS for Desktop Standard: Yes
• ArcGIS for Desktop Advanced: Yes

Raster Domain:

• ArcGIS for Desktop Basic: Requires 3D Analyst
• ArcGIS for Desktop Standard: Requires 3D Analyst
• ArcGIS for Desktop Advanced: Requires 3D Analyst