Bug: Cannot See Large ERDAS IMAGINE Data When Zoomed in to the Full Raster Resolution

Description

When using large ERDAS IMAGINE data, the image may disappear when zoomed in to full raster resolution. However the image is visible when zoomed out. The Identify tool returns NoData at all scale levels.

Cause

When renaming ERDAS IMAGINE files larger than 2 GB (with .ige), all the associated file names are updated. However, a pointer within the .img file pointing to the .ige file is not updated. As a consequence, when the software looks for the .ige file it looks for the old name which no longer exists, and the data is no longer displayed. The pyramid files continue to be displayed, which is why the image is visible when zoomed out.

Workaround

To view the source pixels, the file needs to be renamed to its original name that is stored in the .img file.
For example, assume that there is a dataset that is now called 'test.img' but was originally 'data.img'.

Open the test.img file in a text editor.
Use find/search to locate a '.ige' string within the .img file.
Note the original name of the image, for example, data.ige.
Use ArcGIS (ArcCatalog) to rename the Imagine dataset 'test.img' to the original name 'data.img'. ArcGIS automatically renames all associated files.
Now use the dataset in ArcGIS. It should show all pixels, and the Identify tool should return expected results.

Article ID: 000011145

Software: