Book Image

ArcGIS for Desktop Cookbook

By : Daniela C Docan
Book Image

ArcGIS for Desktop Cookbook

By: Daniela C Docan

Overview of this book

This book is a good companion to get you quickly acquainted with everything you need to increase your productivity with the ArcGIS Desktop. It would be helpful to have a bit of familiarity with basic GIS concepts. If you have no previous experience with ArcGIS, this book will still be helpful for you because it will help you catch up to the acquainted users from a practical point of view.
Table of Contents (13 chapters)
12
Index

Creating 3D features from 2D features


A 3D feature is a 2D feature that has elevation (height) values (z-values) stored in its geometry. When you are creating a new feature class in your geodatabase, you have from the first panel Geometry Properties: Coordinate include Z values. Used to store 3D data. In Chapter 1, Designing Geodatabase, you created feature classes that store only 2D features.

In this recipe, you will convert the existing simple features (2D) into 3D features using two methods:

  • Based on the height values from a raster surface

  • Based on the height values from the 2D feature's field attribute

Getting ready

In this recipe, you will work with the ArcScene desktop application. ArcScene documents are saved as .sxd files. Your scene document will contain:

  • A raster surface layer created in Chapter 9, Working with Spatial Analyst, in the Analyzing surfaces recipe

  • Two 2D feature classes: PointElevation and Buildings

How to do it...

Follow these steps to convert 2D features into 3D features...