Data management for military data
You can work with National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) data formats in ArcGIS, including:
- Digital Terrain Elevation Data (DTED)
- High Resolution Elevation (HRE)
- Raster Product Format (RPF):
- Compressed Arc Digitized Raster Graphics (CADRG) and Enhanced Compressed Raster Graphic (ECRG)
- Controlled Image Base (CIB)
- National Imagery Transmission Format (NITF)
- ArcGIS mosaic datasets—Allow you to store, manage, view, query, and disseminate the large volumes of raster data that are typically associated with military raster formats such as RPF, DTED, HRE, and NITF. To support adding data in these military formats to mosaic datasets, ArcGIS includes raster types. It is recommended that you select the appropriate military raster type when you add military raster data to a raster dataset, as described in the Creating and adding military data to mosaic datasets topic. That topic, plus Updating mosaic datasets containing military data describe capabilities you should keep in mind when working with mosaic datasets. Additional information is in the article On-the-Fly Processing and Dynamic Raster Mosaicking. For licensing requirements, see License matrix for defense and intelligence.
- Raster file format options—Allow you to specify which RPF products and DTED levels you want ArcGIS to recognize. Turning off products and levels you don't use can improve performance. It can also let you filter data at data-load time. For details, see Displaying specific raster formats.
Descriptions of NGA data formats
Common military data formats include RPF, DTED, and NITF. More recently, NGA developed the HRE data format. RPF data can be categorized into two further types: CADRG/ECRG and CIB rasters. CADRG/ECRG rasters are georeferenced scanned images of NGA hardcopy products and are used as basemaps for other GIS layers. CIB rasters are panchromatic (black and white) imagery in either 1-, 5-, or 10-meter resolution and are also used as basemaps.
DTED rasters are elevation rasters of three resolution levels: Level 0 at 30 arc-seconds (approximately 1,000 meters), Level 1 at 3 arc-seconds (approximately 100 meters), and Level 2 at 1 arc-second (approximately 30 meters). Each DTED dataset covers an area of 1 degree of longitude by 1 degree of latitude.
NITF imagery is used for intelligence analysis. The NITF standard allows for storage of multiple images within a single NITF file. NITF files can also include other types of information, such as graphics and text.
HRE data replaces the current non-standard High Resolution Terrain Elevation/Information (HRTE/HRTI) products and also replaces the non-standard DTED level 3 thru 6 products.
RPF (CADRG/ECRG and CIB), DTED, and NITF have published specifications that define the format and structure of the data. The following table lists the format and related specification documents:
|
Format |
Specification document |
URL |
Managing organization |
|---|---|---|---|
|
RPF |
MIL-STD-2411 |
http://earth-info.nga.mil/publications/specs/printed/2411/2411_RPF.pdf |
NGA |
Notice 1: http://earth-info.nga.mil/publications/specs/printed/2411/2411_cn_1.pdf | |||
Notice 2: http://earth-info.nga.mil/publications/specs/printed/2411/2411CN2.pdf | |||
|
CADRG/ECRG |
For CADRG: MIL-C-89038 |
NGA |
|
For ECRG: MIL-PRF-32283 | NGA | ||
|
CIB |
MIL-PRF-89041A (CIB) |
http://earth-info.nga.mil/publications/specs/printed/89041/PRF89041.pdf |
NGA |
|
DTED |
MIL-PRF-89020B |
http://earth-info.nga.mil/publications/specs/printed/89020B/89020B.pdf |
NGA |
HRE | NGA.IP.0002_1.0 | http://www.gwg.nga.mil/ntb/baseline/docs/HRE_spec/HRE%20Product%20IP%20v1.0%202009-10-23.pdf | NGA |
NITF | MIL-STD-2500C | NGA |