Create and Simplify Contours (Defense Mapping)

Summary

Defense Mapping production tool that generates contours and smooths them for use in cartographic products. Contours are generated from input rasters. Once created, the contours are simplified without altering their essential shape.

Usage

• Set the Map Scale parameter to the scale at which your cartographic products will be printed. This tool uses it to improve contour display in output products.

• This tool requires specific fields within Out Contour Features. Out Contour Features should be a Defense Mapping data model feature class.

• Simplification uses a tolerance to define the minimum allowable distance between vertices. The tool removes vertices within this tolerance. Tolerance is scale dependent and controlled by the tool.

Syntax

CreateAndSimplifyContours_defense (Input_Raster, Map_Scale, Base_Contour, Contour_Interval, Index_Interval, Include_Zero_Contour, Out_Contour_Features, Contour_Subtype, {Input_Area_of_Interest})

Parameter	Explanation	Data Type
Input_Raster [Input_Raster,...]	A list of rasters from which contours will be created.	Raster Layer
Map_Scale	The scale at which the cartographic product is going to be printed. The tool optimizes cartographic display by setting a minimum feature length based on this scale. 1:5000 —Contour printing is optimized for scale 1:5000. 1:7500 —Contour printing is optimized for scale 1:7500. 1:12500 —Contour printing is optimized for scale 1:12500. 1:25000 —Contour printing is optimized for scale 1:25000. 1:50000 —Contour printing is optimized for scale 1:50000. This is the default. 1:100000 —Contour printing is optimized for scale 1:100000. 1:250000 —Contour printing is optimized for scale 1:250000. 1:500000 —Contour printing is optimized for scale 1:500000. 1:1000000 —Contour printing is optimized for scale 1:1000000.	String
Base_Contour	Base contour value. Contours are generated above and below this value to cover the entire value range of the input raster. Setting this value to 5 and the contour interval to 10 will produce contour lines at 5, 15, 25, -5, -15, and so on. The default is zero.	Double
Contour_Interval	The interval, or distance, between contour lines. This can be any positive number.	Double
Index_Interval	Indicates the index contour interval.	Double
Include_Zero_Contour	Indicates if the tool will create a zero contour. A zero contour represents sea level. Zero contours, when generated along a coastline, may be created inside a water body. Specify ZERO_CONTOUR if you will generate contours on land areas that are at or below sea level. NO_INCLUDE_ZERO_CONTOUR —Do not include a zero contour. This is the default. INCLUDE_ZERO_CONTOUR —Include a zero contour.	Boolean
Out_Contour_Features	An existing Defense Mapping feature class. The tool appends contours to this feature class.	Feature Layer
Contour_Subtype	A subtype in Out_Contour_Features to which contours will be written.	String
Input_Area_of_Interest (Optional)	An AOI that is contained in a raster and is used to clip the raster before creating contours. A buffer is created before clipping the raster and results in larger output contours that extend beyond the selected AOI.	Feature Layer

Code Sample

CreateAndSimplifyContours example (Python window)

The following code sample demonstrates how to use the CreateAndSimplifyContours tool.

# set gp environment
arcpy.env.workspace="C:/data"

# variables for tool
rasters="elevation.tif"
mapScale="1:12500"
baseContour=0
contourInterval=10

# output feature class must exist
outContours="mgcp.gdb/mgcp/contours"
noIdx="NO_INDEX_CONTOURS"
contourSubtype="FCSubtype"

# execute the tool
arcpy.CreateAndSimplifyContours_defense(rasters,mapScale,baseContour,contourInterval,outContours,contourSubtype)

Environments

Current Workspace

Licensing Information

ArcGIS for Desktop Basic: No

ArcGIS for Desktop Standard: Requires Defense Mapping

ArcGIS for Desktop Advanced: Requires Defense Mapping and Spatial Analyst