Make ArcGIS always write TFW files with TIFs

Update: The below refers to ArcGIS 9.3 on WinXP. The path to the file in ArcGIS 10 on Win7 is C:\arcgis\arcexe10x\raster\defaults.

This file:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\ESRI\Raster\defaults\tiff.pdf

despite its file-name extension, is actually a "preferences definition file."

If you open it with a text editor (instead of an Adobe application), you can edit it (after making a backup copy of course).

Change the line:

   tfw_access( "World File Access" ): "Read"

to:

   tfw_access( "World File Access" ): "Write"

As is noted in the file below that line, the "Write" setting means "[A] World [.TFW] file [will be] read as [a] fallback on input[,] and [will be] written on creation/modification [of a .TIF file]"

So, if you generate a new .TIF it will still be a GeoTIF (i.e., it needs no .TFW because the coordinate-system information is self-contained in the .TIF file), but there will also be a .TFW file too, in case you are giving the file to someone whose software doesn't read the coordinate information inside the .TIF file. If you trash the .TFW, the .TIF will still know where it lives.

(612) 725-2693 Northwest Airlines Lost Baggage

Wondering what happened to your "delayed" luggage from a Northwest Airlines (now part of Delta!) flight from over a month ago? Don't bother with their website or claim-tracking web page or various 800 numbers or the other 800 number for customer service that the ticket agent gives you when you call the regular 800 number. Just call the Central Baggage Service International number: (612) 725-2693. Then you can talk to a guy who swears the check is in the mail, which information he looked up using the same claim number you entered on the claim-tracking web page, begging the question, what database is it he is using and why does it (apparently) differ from that which drives the web page?

ESRI time-waster #940267

Hey ESRI: Thanks. Thanks for letting me name a feature class with a 47-character name, and for letting me include it in a topology, and for then giving me a useless "Failed to create new feature. The table already exists. Invalid argument." error when I try to make edits, until I finally figure out it is because 47 characters is actually too long, sort of. Rename it to a shorter name and it works. Why not JUST ENFORCE A UNIFORM CHARACTER LIMIT ACROSS THE BOARD FROM THE OUTSET?

Thanks again. Really.

A little late to the party

In case the news hasn't trickled to all parts of the globe yet:

He'll be here in late June. That's he, as of today.