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Technical Article   HowTo:  Extract Z values of a TIN or raster layer to a point shapefile

Article ID: 22597
Software:  ArcGIS - ArcEditor 8.3, 8.1, 8.1.2, 8.2, 9.0, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.3.1 ArcGIS - ArcInfo 8.2, 9.0, 8.1, 8.1.2, 8.3, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.3.1 ArcGIS - ArcView 8.3, 8.1, 8.1.2, 8.2, 9.0, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.3.1
Platforms: N/A

Summary

Instructions provided are steps to extract Z values from 3D data and write it into a point shapefile attribute table.

Procedure

The shapefile must have 3D point features. Following these steps to add Z values to the data:

  1. Create 3D points by deriving existing features height from a surface.-show me-

    A. Add the 2D feature shapefile and the surface to a map or scene.
    B. Click 3D Analyst > Convert > Features to 3D.
    C. Click the Input Features dropdown arrow > specify the features to convert.
    D. Click the Raster or TIN Surface button to set the source for the features' heights.
    E. Click the dropdown arrow > specify the surface to use.
    F. Optional, browse to the location to save the output feature class or shapefile.
    G. Type the name of the output 3D feature class or shapefile.
    H. Click OK.
  2. Add a numeric field to 3D point attribute table.-show me-

    A. Click Options in the table where field will be added.
    B. Click Add Field.
    C. Type the name of the field.
    D. Click the Type dropdown arrow and specify the field type.
    E. Set any other field properties.
    F. Click OK.
  3. Right-click on the new field heading > Calculate Values > Check on the Advanced box.
  4. In the pre-logic script edit box enter: 

    dim pGeometry as ipoint

    set pGeometry = [shape]



  5. In the '<new fieldname> =' box enter: 

    pGeometry.z



  6. Click OK. The point Z geometry is added to the attribute field.

Created: 5/30/2002
Last Modified: 5/3/2011

Article Rating: (4)
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Comments

By noahw - 08/22/2012 9:43 AM

The article needs to be updated.

Working with ArcView 9.3, the final step to add z-values needs to be done in ArcScene, not ArcView. Once sorted out, this works well.

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By Anonymous - 05/29/2008 9:12 AM

The article has missing, misleading, or conflicting information.

How does it make this transformation? What is the search radius? It uses mean, mode, median? I will appreciate any of this information. Thanks Thiago de Castilho Bertani

By Anonymous - 09/07/2004 3:35 AM

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By Anonymous - 02/18/2003 11:07 AM

Rating:

By Anonymous - 01/21/2003 2:48 PM

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