Raster images load very slowly

Hello,

I am trying to attach multiple raster images totaling around 1 GB of data. The rasters are aerial images that were taken from NearMaps. I am having trouble with how slowly the rasters are loading. It can take up to 15 minutes for a few rasters to load, and I have never gotten all of the rasters to load (50 images) at the same time.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can get these aerials to load faster?

Thanks in advance.

  • You can improve the performance of raster handling within MicroStation by specifying the location to store cached files. This can be achieved by using both MicroStation and Windows variables. You can control where MicroStation caching is performed locally by creating a Windows variable called HMRTempDirectory. You can use this variable to define a specific location on your hard disk where caching is performed. To achieve this, firstly create a local directory (eg C:\RasterCache\). Then, from your desktop right click on the ‘My Computer’ icon and select ‘Properties.’ From the ‘Advanced’ tab, select ‘Environment Variables.’ Create a new variable called ‘HMRTempDirectory’ and define the location to the previously created location.

     

    Within MicroStation you should then also create the configuration variable MS_RASTER_LOADMODE with a value of 3. Within MicroStation, go to the Workspace>Configuration menu and select ‘New’ to create the variable. This will ensure that the caching is performed in the defined location. This information can be found and explained in further detail by TechNote 6205 on Select Services.

     

    http://communities.bentley.com/products/microstation/w/microstation__wiki/attaching-displaying-raster-images-in-microstation-cs.aspx

    Regards
    Andrew Bell
    Technical Support
    Bentley Systems

  • have you created a holding  file and attached all the rasters to it  then use this holding file as a reference  file  with the ref manager...

    Another trick is to convert the jpgs to .TIFF ( georeferenced)  via the raster manager then make new holding file and reattach the geo tiffs no sister files needed... I chose the no loss uncompressed option... seems to load faster for me..

    another option from old school days still works well

    create a map grid  by attach one raster at a time, then trace its edges on a non print  level and type in the name of the jpg as text inside the tile, turn off and proceed with next jpg untill all are mapped.. now you can use this as a grid or tile index and  work out what jps to use or  just have all turned off when attached as xref and  use the raster manager to only  turn on the tiles you actually need turn on...

    one more option... look up package to join all the rasters together and let it join all the tiles together as one raster , this them  loads faster for me than lots of little ones I dont get why but it does for me...

    I use AU_ECW compressor

        To compress one image file
        To compress several image files of the same size and shape into one file
        To add geo-referencing to an image file

    no longer available.. web site gone, was free .. I have it installed but I dont have the install file any more...


    Ok more digging around and found you can do it  in GDAL but its not gui driven  so hard to learn  best next option is QGIS free gis  can combine some geo ref rasters into one merged raster..

    http://www.qgistutorials.com/en/docs/raster_mosaicing_and_clipping.html

    Lorys

    Started msnt work 1990 - Retired  Nov 2022 ( oh boy am I old )

    But was long time user V8iss10 (8.11.09.919) dabbler CE  update 16 (10.16.00.80) 

    MicroStation user since 1990 Melbourne Australia.
    click link to PM me 

  • Have you tried OpenRoads or MicroStation CONNECT ? The reason I ask is that there is an option to turn on a background map.

    Timothy Hickman

    CADD Manager | CADD Department

    timothy.hickman@colliersengineering.com

    Main: 877 627 3772| 

    1000 Waterview Drive Suite 201 | Hamilton, New Jersey 08691

  • here is an old post - now you no longer need to obtain a bing maps license

    https://communities.bentley.com/products/microstation/b/microstation_blog/posts/bing-maps-in-microstation

    Timothy Hickman

    CADD Manager | CADD Department

    timothy.hickman@colliersengineering.com

    Main: 877 627 3772| 

    1000 Waterview Drive Suite 201 | Hamilton, New Jersey 08691

  • I'm using the latest version of connect edition. Windows 10 64 bit with a ton of ram. Raster handling is a big problem. Geotiff (.tif) is terrible and Geotif with alpha is even worse. It takes about 4 or 5 minutes before Microstation even starts loading the raster image after all the vector information is loaded. It seems like the program has crashed, but I'll watch my resource viewer in windows and all of a sudden Microstation will decide to load the raster. My normal operation is to save rasters to ecw or JPG as connect edition handles these and loads these files much better, however the geotiffs I'm getting from our mapping supplier are 3 - 4 GB and Connect Edition is spitting up an error when trying to convert these files to ecw or JPG.