[R-sig-Geo] Getting the other GIS to recognize files created by writeRaster()

[Dylan Beaudette]

I can't believe that I am asking for advice on how to assist my
special-needs GIS software with recognizing files created by the
raster/rgdal packages.

Recently (after some silent update by IT no doubt), I noticed that
files created like this:

writeRaster(r.mast,  filename='spatial_data/latest/mast-model',
datatype='FLT4S', format='ENVI', overwrite=TRUE, NAflag=-999)

... aren't read-in properly by ArcGIS (9.3.1). Specifically, the
raster statistics and the NODATA value aren't read from the file or
from the .xml file that is automatically generated by GDAL. I have
tried all of the different formats supported by the raster package,
with the 'ENVI' format getting the closest to working (statistics
almost correct but missing NODATA information). Are there any
additional things I can do to help ArcGIS figure these files out
without any tweaking from within the hulking beast? Ideally, I would
like to update model estimates on a semi-regular basis and have the
files ready for viewing by colleagues-- without manual intervention.

Thanks!

Dylan