Interpolate a raster dataset from Excel using IDW in ArcGIS Pro

Summary

The inverse distance weighted (IDW) technique is a widely used interpolation that creates surface rasters from point features. In ArcGIS Pro, XYZ coordinates in Excel files are required when using the IDW tool as they provide the measured attributes to each point. However, the Excel files cannot be directly used with the IDW tool; the coordinates must first be converted to points using the XY Table To Point tool. This article outlines the workflow to interpolate a raster dataset from an Excel file using the XY Table To Point tool followed by the IDW tool in ArcGIS Pro.

The Excel table below shows the X, Y, and Z coordinates.

Procedure

Note:
The IDW tool requires a Spatial Analyst or 3D Analyst license.

1. Open the ArcGIS Pro project.
2. Create a point feature class based on coordinates from the Excel file using the XY Table To Point tool.
1. On the Analysis tab, in the Geoprocessing group, click Tools.
2. In the Geoprocessing pane, search for and click XY Table To Point (Data Management Tools).
3. In the XY Table To Point pane, for Input Table, click Browse and select the Excel file containing the X, Y, and Z coordinates.
4. For Output Feature Class, specify a name and location.
5. For X Field, select the longitude field from the drop-down list.
6. For Y Field, select the latitude field from the drop-down list.
7. For Z Field, select the elevation field from the drop-down list.
8. For Coordinate System, click Select coordinate system to open the Coordinate System window.
9. In the Coordinate System window, expand Projected Coordinate System or Geographic Coordinate System and specify the coordinate system. In this example, WGS 1984 Web Mercator (auxiliary sphere) is specified. Click OK.
10. Click Run.

3. Interpolate the surface raster from the point features using the IDW tool.
1. On the Analysis tab, in the Geoprocessing group, click Tools.
2. In the Geoprocessing pane, search for and click IDW (Spatial Analyst Tools).
3. In the IDW pane, for Input point features, select the output point feature layer created in Step 2 from the drop-down list.
4. For Z value field, select the elevation field from the drop-down list.
5. For Output raster, specify a name and location.
6. Click Run.

The image below shows the interpolated surface raster created from the Excel file.