Boundary Clean (Spatial Analyst)

Summary

Smoothes the boundary between zones by expanding and shrinking it.

Learn more about how Boundary Clean works

Illustration

OutRas = BoundaryClean(InRas1)

Usage

• All regions of less than three cells in the x- or y-direction will be changed.

• The shrinking that occurs with the ONE_WAY smoothing process (expansion-shrinking process run once) or the first pass when the TWO_WAY smoothing process is different than the shrinking that occurs with the second pass of the TWO_WAY smoothing.

  In the first pass, for any processing cell in the expanded raster that has a neighbor of the original value of the processing cell, the original value of the processing cell will be recovered. In the second pass of TWO_WAY, any cell in the expanded raster that is not completely surrounded by eight cells of the same value will recover its original value.

• The expansion is identical for the first and second pass.

• Input cells of NoData have the lowest prioroty in the ONE_WAY sorting type, or in the first pass of TWO_WAY sorting. In the second pass of TWO_WAY sorting, cells of NoData have the highest priority.

Syntax

BoundaryClean (in_raster, {sort_type}, {number_of_runs})

Parameter	Explanation	Data Type
in_raster	The input raster for which the boundary between zones will be smoothed. It must be of integer type.	Raster Layer
sort_type (Optional)	Specifies the type of sorting to use in the smoothing process. This determines the priority by which cells can expand into their neighbors. NO_SORT — Does no sorting by size. Zones with larger values have a higher priority to expand into zones with smaller values. This is the default. DESCEND — Sorts zones in descending order by size. Zones with larger total areas have a higher priority to expand into zones with smaller total areas. ASCEND — Sorts zones in ascending order by size. Zones with smaller total areas have a higher priority to expand into zones with larger total areas.	String
number_of_runs (Optional)	Specifies the number of directions in which the smoothing process will take place. TWO_WAY — Performs expansion and shrinking according to sorting type, then performs an additional shrinking and expansion with the priority reversed. This is the default. ONE_WAY — Performs expansion and shrinking once, according to sorting type.	Boolean

Return Value

Name	Explanation	Data Type
out_raster	The output generalized raster. The boundaries between zones in the input will be smoothed.	Raster

Code Sample

BoundaryClean example 1 (Python window)

This example smooths the boundary between zones in a descending order with a two-way run.

import arcpy
from arcpy import env
from arcpy.sa import *
env.workspace = "C:/sapyexamples/data"
OutBndCln = BoundaryClean("land", "DESCEND", "TWO_WAY")
OutBndCln.save("c:/sapyexamples/output/bndcln_des2")

BoundaryClean example 2 (stand-alone script)

This example smooths the boundary between zones in a descending order with a two-way run.

# Name: BoundaryClean_Ex_02.py
# Description: Smoothes the boundary between zones 
#              by expanding and shrinking it.
# Requirements: Spatial Analyst Extension

# Import system modules
import arcpy
from arcpy import env
from arcpy.sa import *

# Set environment settings
env.workspace = "C:/sapyexamples/data"

# Set local variables
inRaster = "land"

# Check out the ArcGIS Spatial Analyst extension license
arcpy.CheckOutExtension("Spatial")

# Execute BoundaryClean
OutBndCln = BoundaryClean(inRaster, "ASCEND", "TWO_WAY")

# Save the output 
OutBndCln.save("c:/sapyexamples/output/bndcln_asc2")

Environments

Cell Size, Current Workspace, Mask, Output Coordinate System, Extent, Scratch Workspace, Snap Raster

Licensing Information

ArcGIS for Desktop Basic: Requires Spatial Analyst

ArcGIS for Desktop Standard: Requires Spatial Analyst

ArcGIS for Desktop Advanced: Requires Spatial Analyst