HOW TO

Create a contour shell up and separate the output into individual polygons

Last Published: July 13, 2023

Summary

In ArcGIS Pro, a contour shell up is created using the Contour tool to generate polygons between each contour line and the raster maximum. Separating the contour shell up into individual polygons can improve the visualization of significant information, such as the area of each polygon, for further analysis. This article provides the workflow to create a contour shell up from raster data and separate the output into individual polygons.

Procedure

Note:
The Contour tool requires a Spatial Analyst or 3D Analyst license.
  1. Open the project in ArcGIS Pro.
  2. On the Analysis tab, click Tools to open the Geoprocessing pane.
  3. Create the contour shell up from the raster layer using the Contour tool.
    1. In the Geoprocessing pane, search for and open Contour (3D Analyst Tools).
    2. In the Contour pane, for Input raster, select the raster layer from the drop-down list.
    3. For Output feature class, click Browse The Browse button and specify a location and name for the output feature class.
    4. For Contour interval, specify the interval or distance between the contour lines.
    5. For Contour type, select Contour shell up from the drop-down list.
    6. Click Run.
The Contour pane
  1. If necessary, in the Contour pane, click the Back button The Back button to return to the search field.
  2. Separate the contour shell up into individual polygons using the Multipart To Singlepart tool.
    1. In the Geoprocessing pane, search for and open Multipart To Singlepart (Data Management Tools).
    2. In the Multipart To Singlepart pane, for Input Features, select the contour shell up layer from the drop-down list.
    3. For Output Feature Class, click Browse The Browse button and specify a location and name to export the feature class.
    4. Click Run.
The Multipart To Singlepart pane

The output of the individual polygons separated from the contour shell up is shown in the image below.

The multipart to singlepart feature class

Article ID: 000030752

Software:
  • ArcGIS Pro 3 1
  • ArcGIS Pro 3 0
  • ArcGIS Pro 2 9x

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