From ArcMap (tested in version 10 and
9.3.1), you can connect to this data as a WCS service.
This is similar to an SDE read-only connection.
From the catalog window of ArcMap, or from the AddData button follow
the steps below.
It will behave just as if you had
downloaded the entire filegeodatabase, except that metadata is sparse.
You will have to refer to the
PSLC for
metadata. Drag any layer onto
your map to view it. You will be able to view the data with little loss
of performance compared to local data. If you wish to save locally, you
can right right-click on any data layer and click on "Data >
Export Data...". You can download the entire raster, clip to a drawn
rectangle, or clip to the data view. If you clip to the data view,
snapping is not supported, so your result can shift as much as half a
cell. Snapping is ensured by cliping to a drawn rectangle or by using a
polygon feature layer and the "Extract by Rectangle" tool under the
Spatial Analyst Tools. To clip the data using a drawn rectangle
follow the steps below.
Clipping to a drawn rectangle:
1. In ArcMap, start in Data view (rather than Layout view).
2. Invoke the drawing toolbar and draw your clipping
rectangle.
3. Edit the rectangle's object properties to make it snap.
Change the corner coordinate and the Width and Height of the rectangle
to multiples of six.
4. Right-click on the raster dataset in the Table of
Contents and choose "Data>Export Data...". In the Export WCS
Data window, choose the "Selected Graphics" button.
5. After you have chosen where to save the new dataset,
click on the save button.
This server is under development. Service
may be sporadic, and passwords may be instituted when we figure out how
to do it.
We will have to curtail access if demand exceeds capacity.