Building pyramids in ArcCatalog

You can use the geoprocessing tools within ArcGIS to build pyramids for your raster datasets, or you can identify one or more raster datasets in ArcCatalog and open the appropriate tool from the context menu.

1. Select one or more raster datasets. If you are selecting a raster dataset within a raster catalog, do the following:
   1. Click the raster catalog in the Catalog tree.
   2. Choose the raster dataset on the Contents tab.

   You can select multiple raster datasets within a folder or within a raster catalog using the SHIFT or CTRL key.

2. Right-click the raster dataset or selection of raster datasets and click Build Pyramids.

   This opens the appropriate geoprocessing tool.

3. Optionally, you can choose the compression type for the pyramid file.
   1. Click the Environments button.
   2. Expand the Raster Storage section.
   3. Edit the parameters under the Pyramid subheading.
   4. Click OK.

   Compression creates a smaller .ovr file. The IMAGINE format and older versions of ArcGIS create reduced-resolution dataset (.rrd) files, where compression is not available. The default pyramid compression uses the optimal compression type, given the type of data. You can manually choose to have LZ77, JPEG, or no compression. JPEG compression can only be used with file formats that can store data according to JPEG specifications.

4. Click OK.

Tip:

MrSID, ECW, and JPEG 2000 files store pyramids internally within the dataset and are therefore always present.