The Feature Data Objects (FDO) API provides access to data in a data store. A provider is a specific implementation of the FDO API that provides access to data in a particular data store. The Autodesk FDO Provider for Raster is a stand-alone file format that supports GIS data.

The FDO Provider for Raster has the following characteristics:

• The FDO Provider for Raster supports georeferenced file-based raster images and file-based grid coverages. Raster images are pixel-based images, such as digital photographs (satellite images, for example). Raster images are very useful as background images underneath your vector data, for example, an aerial photograph of a city with a layer of streets overlaying it.
• The FDO Provider for Raster can run in a multi-platform environment, including Windows and Linux.

The following list shows the raster image file formats that are supported, along with their acronyms and file extensions:

• JPEG (.jpg, .jpeg) - Joint Photographic Experts Group
• JPG2K (.jp2, .j2k) - Joint Photographic Experts Group
• MrSID (.sid) - Multi-Resolution Seamless Image Database
• PNG (.png) - Portable Network Graphic
• TIFF (.tif, .tiff) - Tagged Image File Format
• DEM (.dem) - USGS Format Digital Elevation Model
• ECW (.ecw) - Enhanced Compressed Wavelet
• DTED (.dt0, .dt1, dt2) - Digital Terrain Elevation Data
• ESRI ASCII GRID (.asc) - ESRI Surface
• ESRI Binary GRID (.adf) - ESRI Surface

The following data models are supported:

ModelType	BitsPerPixel	Organization	DataType
Bitonal	1	Pixel	Unsigned Integer
Grey	8	Pixel	Unsigned Integer
RGB	24	Pixel	Unsigned Integer
RGBA	32	Pixel	Unsigned Integer
Pallete	8	Pixel	Unsigned Integer
Data	1	Pixel	Unsigned Integer
Data	8	Pixel	Unsigned Integer
Data	8	Pixel	Signed Integer
Data	16	Pixel	Unsigned Integer
Data	16	Pixel	Signed Integer
Data	32	Pixel	Unsigned Integer
Data	32	Pixel	Signed Integer
Data	32	Pixel	Float

Note:

• Only DEM, TIFF, and ECW images support the ‘Data’ ModelType.
• All 2- and 4-BitsPerPixel images are promoted to 8 BitsPerPixel as per the underlying ATIL behavior.

For more information, see The Essential FDO (FET_TheEssentialFDO.pdf) and the FDO Developer's Guide (FDG_FDODevGuide.pdf).