An overview of the Conversion toolset

Use these tools to convert surfaces to different formats that allow different types of analysis, show different interpretations, or extract features from TINs that you can use to enhance your analysis results or visualization in 3D.

Conversion tools allow you to convert surfaces to different formats or convert TIN surfaces to the features that comprise them. You can use conversion tools to convert TINs to rasters, rasters to TINs, or TINs to features.

Converting between raster and TIN formats allows you to employ the benefits of each while modeling the same surface. For example, use a TIN to model a surface if you have features, such as lines or polygons, that you want to use to enforce natural features, such as ridges or valleys, or clip a TIN to a study area. Convert this TIN to a raster using the natural neighbors interpolation option to preserve the linear features in the output raster. You'll now be able to use spatial operators on the raster that may not have been available for the TIN. In addition, the TIN-to-raster conversion is a smoothing process, so contours you generate on the raster will be smoother than they would be as a TIN.

If you have supplemental data for a raster surface, such as breakline data, you can convert the raster to a TIN, then add the features to the TIN. You can then convert it back to a raster using natural neighbors interpolation to preserve the breaklines or use the TIN for your visualization or analysis.

The following table lists the tools in the conversion toolset and a brief description of each:

Geoprocessing Tool

Description

Layer 3D To Feature Class

Exports feature layers that have 3D properties defined to a multipatch feature class.

From Feature Class Geoprocessing Tools

Geoprocessing Tool

Description

Layer 3D To Feature Class

Exports feature layers that have 3D properties defined to a multipatch feature class.

Feature Class Z To ASCII

Exports 3D features to ASCII text files in XYZ, GENERATE, or profile format.

Multipatch Footprint

Creates polygon footprints representing the two-dimensional area occupied by a multipatch feature class.

Feature Class Geoprocessing tools
From File Geoprocessing Tools

Geoprocessing Tool

Description

ASCII 3D To Feature Class

Imports 3D features from one or more ASCII files stored in XYZ, XYZI, or GENERATE formats into a new feature class.

Import 3D Files

Imports one or more 3D models into a multipatch feature class.

LandXML To TIN

This tool imports one or more triangulated irregular network (TIN) surfaces from a LandXML file to output ESRI TINs.

LAS To Multipoint

This tool imports one or more files in LAS format, the industry standard for lidar data, into a new multipoint feature class. Supported LAS file format versions are 1.0, 1.1, and 1.2.

Point File Information

Generates a new output feature class containing statistical information about one or more point files.

From File Geoprocessing tools
From Raster Geoprocessing Tools

Geoprocessing Tool

Description

Raster Domain

Creates a polygon or polyline footprint of the data portions of a raster dataset.

Raster To Multipoint

Converts raster cell centers into multipoint features whose Z values reflect the raster cell value.

Raster To TIN

Converts a raster to a triangulated irregular network (TIN) dataset.

From Raster Geoprocessing Tools
From Terrain Geoprocessing Tools

Geoprocessing Tool

Description

Terrain To Points

Converts a terrain dataset into a new point or multipoint feature class.

Terrain To Raster

Converts a terrain dataset into a raster.

Terrain To TIN

Converts a terrain dataset to a triangulated irregular network (TIN) dataset.

From Terrain Geoprocessing Tools
From TIN Geoprocessing Tools

Geoprocessing Tool

Description

TIN Domain

Creates a line or polygon feature class representing the interpolation zone of a triangulated irregular network (TIN) dataset.

TIN Edge

Creates 3D line features using the triangle edges of a triangulated irregular network (TIN) dataset.

TIN Line

Exports breaklines from a triangulated irregular network (TIN) dataset to a 3D line feature class.

TIN Node

Exports the nodes of a triangulated irregular network (TIN) dataset to a point feature class.

TIN Polygon Tag

Creates polygon features using tag values in a triangulated irregular network (TIN) dataset.

TIN to Raster

Creates a raster by interpolating its cell values from the elevation of the input TIN at the specified sampling distance.

TIN Triangle

Exports triangle faces from a triangulated irregular network (TIN) dataset to a polygon feature class and provides slope, aspect, and optional attributes of hillshade and tag value for each triangle.

Overview table of the conversion toolset

The following two tools that were available in the ArcGIS 3D Analyst toolbox prior to version 10.0 have been removed, since they are now in the core Conversion toolbox.

Layer To KML

Map To KML


6/10/2013