What are the functions used by a raster or mosaic dataset?

The raster functions allow you to define processing operations that will be applied to one or more rasters. These functions are applied to the raster data on-the-fly as the data is accessed and viewed; therefore, they can be applied quickly without having to endure the time it would otherwise take to create a processed product on disk.

Functions can be applied to various rasters (or images), including:

• Raster dataset layers
• Mosaic datasets
• Rasters within mosaic datasets
• Image service layers

The functions are organized within a function chain, allowing you to create various processed products by chaining together multiple functions.

Functions

Function name	Description
Apparent Reflectance	Adjusts image brightness values (DN) for some satellite sensors.
Arithmetic	Performs an arithmetic operation between two partially or completely spatially overlapping rasters or a raster and one or more constant values.
Aspect	Identifies the downslope direction of the maximum rate of change in value from each cell to its neighbors.
Attribute Table	Defines an attribute table that will be used to symbolize a single-band mosaic dataset.
Band Arithmetic	Performs an arithmetic operation on the bands of a raster dataset.
Cached Raster	Creates a preprocessed cache dataset at the point in the function chain where it's added for an item in a mosaic dataset.
Clip	Extracts or excludes an area in a raster according to a set of extents.
Color Model Conversion	Converts the color model of an image, for example, from either the HSV (hue, saturation, and value) to RGB (red, green, and blue), or vice versa.
Colormap	Transforms the pixel values to display the raster data as either a grayscale or a red, green, blue (RGB) image, based on a color map.
Colormap To RGB	Converts a single-band raster with a color map to a three-band (red, green, and blue) raster.
Complex	Computes magnitude from complex values.
Composite Bands	Combines rasters to form a multiband raster.
Constant	Creates a virtual raster with a single pixel value for all its pixels.
Contrast And Brightness	Enhances the appearance of raster data (imagery) by modifying the brightness or contrast.
Convolution	Performs filtering on the pixel values in a raster, which can be used for sharpening an image, blurring an image, detecting edges within an image, or other kernel-based enhancements.
Extract Band	Reorders or extracts bands from a raster.
Geometric	Rectifies an image based on the geodata transformation that is supplied with the raster. This can be used to orthorectify rasters based on a sensor definition and a terrain model.
Grayscale	Converts a multiband raster into a grayscale raster.
Hillshade	Generates a grayscale model of a terrain with the sun's relative position taken into account for shading the terrain.
Identity	Default function required by all rasters in a mosaic dataset if there is no other function.
LAS Dataset To Raster	Renders lidar data managed using the LAS Dataset. This function cannot be added manually. It is added when the data is added to a mosaic dataset using the LAS Dataset raster type.
LAS To Raster	Renders lidar data stored using the LAS file format. This function cannot be added manually. It is added when the data is added to a mosaic dataset using the LAS raster type.
Local	Performs bitwise, conditional, logical, mathematical, and statistical operations calculations, on a pixel-by-pixel basis.
Mask	Creates NoData by defining a range of pixel values. Any values outside the range will be returned as NoData.
Merge Rasters	Creates a single raster item in the attribute table from multiple items (rows).
ML Classify	Generates a supervised classification image using a signature file. This function requires the ArcGIS Spatial Analyst extension.
NDVI	Calculates the Normalized Vegetation Differential Index (NDVI) values using a two-band raster consisting of the red and near-infrared bands.
Pansharpening	Enhances the spatial resolution of a multiband image by fusing it with a higher-resolution panchromatic image.
Radar Calibration	Converts the pixels of RADARSAT-2 imagery to a true representation of the radar backscatter.
Raster Info	Modifies properties of the raster, such as bit depth.
Remap	Allows you to change or reclassify the pixel values of the raster data.
Reproject	Modifies the projection of and optionally resamples a raster dataset, mosaic dataset, or raster item in a mosaic dataset.
Shaded Relief	Generates a shaded relief from an elevation model and color ramp.
Slope	Calculates the rate of change of elevation for each DEM cell.
Speckle	Smooths or removes speckles in radar imagery using a noise model.
Spectral Conversion	Applies a matrix to a multiband image to affect the spectral values of the output. This can be used to convert a false color image to a pseudo color image.
Statistics	Calculates focal statistics for each pixel of an image based on a defined focal neighborhood.
Stretch	Enhances an image by changing properties, such as brightness, contrast, and gamma, through multiple stretch types.
Tasseled Cap	A principal component analysis that can classify certain multispectral datasets and calculate new bands that are useful for vegetation and agricultural studies.
Terrain To Raster	Render multipoint data managed using a terrain stored in a geodatabase. This function cannot be added manually. It is added when the data is added to a mosaic dataset using the Terrain raster type.

List of functions