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Large Image Support

DIVE supports large image datasets (GeoTIFF/TIFF) through tiled pyramid access on Web (Girder large_image) and Desktop (local GeoTIFF tile server).

Dynamic range in the viewer

For Web tiled TIFF datasets (large-image type), use the Image Enhancements panel to apply percentile stretch while annotating. DIVE passes stretch parameters to Girder tile requests so 16-bit (and other high bit-depth) data can be viewed interactively without baking a fixed min/max into the file first.

Pre-scaling to 8-bit COG (below) is still useful when you want a fixed display range at import time or when preparing files for tools that do not support dynamic tile styling.

On Web, an upload batch that contains only .tif / .tiff files is classified as a large-image dataset (not an image sequence). JPEG or PNG uploads remain image sequences.

Requirement: Internal Overviews

Large images must include internal overview levels (reduced-resolution pyramid levels) for tile rendering. Files without internal overviews can fail to load in the large-image viewer.

If a file is missing overviews, convert it before import.

Check a File

Run:

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gdalinfo --stats "input-file.tif"

Confirm that the output includes overview entries and record the min/max stats for each band. You will use those values for scaling during conversion.

Convert to a Pyramidal COG

Use gdal_translate with COG output, internal overviews, and explicit scaling:

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gdal_translate "input-file.tif" "input-file_cog_scaled.tif" \
  -of COG \
  -ot Byte \
  -scale <min> <max> 0 255 \
  -co BLOCKSIZE=256 \
  -co COMPRESS=DEFLATE \
  -co PREDICTOR=2 \
  -co BIGTIFF=IF_SAFER \
  -co NUM_THREADS=ALL_CPUS \
  -co OVERVIEWS=IGNORE_EXISTING \
  -co RESAMPLING=LANCZOS \
  -co OVERVIEW_RESAMPLING=AVERAGE

Replace <min> and <max> with the values from gdalinfo --stats (per band as needed).

Notes

  • If your data is RGB, use per-band scaling options (-scale_1, -scale_2, -scale_3) when channels need different ranges.
  • Re-import the converted *_cog_scaled.tif file into DIVE.