How should I publish my orthophotos?
Find more information about using ArcMap and ArcGIS Server to publish image services. If you're using server raster functions , these should be defined during the publishing process.
Should I create a cache?
If you plan to use your orthophotos as simple background imagery, you should create a raster tile cache from your source mosaic datasets. The raster tile cache is a simple format (easily usable by browsers and mobile devices) with fast performance, but it has some limitations:
- It is limited to 8 bits per pixel and 3 bands.
- It includes only one image in any location. If your data collections include multiple years, a dynamic image service is probably your best bet.
- It does not automatically retain any image metadata, so a user using the Identify tool on a raster tile cache will get no information (the image date, for example).
For a description of the built-in tile cache tools in ArcGIS, read about the Tile Cache toolset. There are also additional add-in tools for creating and sharing a raster tile cache, including creating a feature class containing metadata (which can be associated with the cache to enable queries).