Create buffers with a specific unit of measurement in ArcGIS Pro

Summary

In ArcGIS Pro, when creating a buffer for a feature layer using the numerical values of a field, the buffer distance unit refers to the feature layer's spatial reference unit.

The Layer Properties window below shows the linear unit of the Point_sampledata layer in US Survey Feet.

This article provides the workflow to create buffers using values from an existing field in a preferred unit rather than the unit of the feature layer's spatial reference. In this example, meters is added to the field values in the 'Point_sampledata' layer using the Calculate Field tool.

Procedure

1. Open the ArcGIS Pro project.
2. In the Contents pane, right-click the feature layer and select Attribute Table.
3. In the attribute table, click Add Field . The Fields view opens.
4. Configure the fields table.
   1. For Field Name, specify a name for the new field. In this example, ‘RAD_UNIT’ is used.
   2. Double-click the Data Type column and select the Text data type. Refer to ArcGIS Pro: ArcGIS field data types for more information on field data types.

5. On the Fields tab, in the Manage Edits group, click Save.
6. Configure the text field using the Calculate Field tool.
   1. In the attribute table, right-click the header of the newly created text field and select Calculate Field.
   2. In the Calculate Field window, for Expression Type, select Python.
   3. Under the Expression section, specify the code below in the expression box. Replace <field_name> with the name of the field containing the buffer distance and <my_unit> with the intended measurement unit. In this example, meters is specified as the measurement unit.

str(<field_name>) + " <my_unit>"

4. Click Verify to validate the expression.
5. Click OK.

7. On the Analysis tab, in the Geoprocessing group, click Tools.
8. In the Geoprocessing pane, search for and select Buffer (Analysis Tools).
9. Specify the Buffer tool parameters.
   1. For Input Features, click the drop-down menu and select the feature layer. In this example, ‘Point_sampledata’ is selected.
   2. Rename Output Feature Class. In this example, ‘Point_buffer’ is used.
   3. For Distance [value or field], click the drop-down menu and select Field.
   4. Under Distance [value or field], click the drop-down menu and select the new field containing the values with the intended unit. In this example, ‘RAD_UNIT’ is selected.
   5. Click Run.

The map below shows the buffers created for the point features using the field values with the new unit of measurement in meters.