You are here: Appendix C: Data Cartridges and Floating Licenses > Data cartridges

Data cartridges

GeoExpress uses the Express Cartridge Manager (ECM) to meter the amount of encoding performed.

GeoExpress Unlimited version does not us a data cartridge.

ECM options

The following table describes options to be used in managing your data cartridge.

Switch Value Notes
-localecm   Specifies the use of the locally installed Express Cartridge Manager (ECM).
-netecm string Specifies a network Express Cartridge Manager (ECM) to use, in the form <host name>:<port> (e.g. JohnsComputer:1234)
-ecmid   Displays the Express Cartridge Manager ID and available data cartridge units. The ECM ID is required for ordering new data cartridges.

Cartridge deductions

The data size deducted for an encode operation is approximately equal to the “nominal size” of the image. That is:

width × height × number of bands × bytes per sample

Note that the nominal size does not include areas of No-Data, so this equation yields a maximum nominal size.

For mosaics, the cost is approximately equal to the sum of the individual tiles—not the nominal size of the resulting mosaic. Optimizing operations do not decrement the data cartridge.

Because the charge is based on the nominal size of the image rather than the physical input file size, the encoding of compressed images such as JPEG deducts the cartridge by the same amount as the encoding of input images that are not compressed.

For more information, see Frequently Asked Questions.

To order data cartridges, fill out the form at https://help.extensis.com/hc/en-us/requests/new/.