Merging Two Polygons to Raster For Cost Path raster In Model Builder

gradstudent527

Hello, I am trying do a few things all of which I am trying to accomplish with a Model.

I have two polygon features. One is a forest area layer the other is streams clipped to the forest area with a buffer.

I want to combine the two into a raster that would be classified as (Stream Buffer) Area Near a stream =0 all  and other area =1 (Forest area that is not the stream buffer.) My end game is to have a raster for the Cost Path Tool that is classified basically as Stream Buffer = 10 (High Cost) And all other area (1) Low cost.

In the past I added a field SMZ to both layers defined the Buffer SMZ field to 0 and the forest area SMZ field to 1 Merged them then converted it to a raster. However it does not seem possible to add data to the fields within the model builder. I am hoping for a method that would work in the model builder.

All my attempts with merge join ect have not allowed for the unique classification of if it is a stream buffer or regular forest area

RyanWalter

This might not answer your question to its fullest extent, but I think you might be able to get around this by adding your fields within your model and calculating them (Stream Buffer Dataset --> Add Field --> Calculate Field --> Updated Stream Buffer Dataset), performing a Union, then add your field you'll use for raster conversion (going to call it ToRaster SMZ for this example), and calculate that field by summing the Buffer SMZ field and the Forest Area SMZ field. Doing this should result in a ToRaster SMZ field of 1 for your Forest Areas and 0 for your Stream buffer areas