Raster Tips #2 - Creating smaller/faster TIFFs

Want to create fast and small TIFF files for ArcPad?

I'll show you how to convert your rasters into high performance TIFF-LZW or a TIFF-ZIP image for ArcPad 7 using a combination of ArcGIS 9.X and IrfanView.

A. Install IrfanView
1. Go to http://www.irfanview.com
2. Download and install the free software

B. Check your File Explorer settings
(You need this step so that you can find the BMP world and BMP projection files later)
1. Start File Explorer
2. Tools > Folder Options
3. Click View tab
4. Uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types"
5. Click OK
6. Close File Explorer

C. Use ArcMap to generate BMP, BMP world and BMP projection files
1. Start ArcMap with a blank empty map
2. Add your original raster image to the Table of Contents
3. Right click on the image > Data > Export Data (an Export Raster Data dialog should appear)
4. Set Format: BMP
5. Check Use Renderer
6. Check Force RGB (required for aerial photos/satellite images other you may leave unchecked)
7. Click Save button
8. This will create a BMP, BMP world file (filename.bpw) and a BMP projection file (filename.bmp.aux.xml)
9. Quit ArcMap

D. Use IrfanView to convert BMP to TIFF with LZW (or ZIP) compression
1. Start IrfanView
2. Open the BMP that you generated in step C
3. Save As
4. Save as type: TIF
5. Save Compression: LZW or ZIP (ArcPad supports both, but ArcGIS supports LZW only)
6. Click Save
7. Quit IrfanView

E. Manually create TIFF world files and TIFF projection files
1. Start File Explorer
2. Copy and rename your filename.bpw file as a filename.tfw file creating the TIFF world file
3. Open your BMP project file (i.e. filename.bmp.aux.xml)
4. Locate the projection string, (usually inside the SRS tags)
5. Copy only the projection string to clipboard
6. Start Notepad
7. Paste the projection string to Notepad (usually looks like PROJCS[... ] )
8. Save the projection file as a TIFF projection file (filename.prj)
9. Close Notepad
10. Close File Explorer

That's it, the TIFF, TIFF world and TIFF projection file are ready to use in ArcPad.