topic Re: Using the same point shapefile to construct a Terrain and a TIN gives slightly different maps in 3D Questions

Using the same point shapefile to construct a Terrain and a TIN gives slightly different maps

JonathanZieg — Tue, 09 Jun 2020 13:27:47 GMT

Building a Terrain and a TIN out of the same point shapefile produces two maps that look extremely similar, but when I run the results through the Surface Volume the Terrain and TIN give slightly different volume results. The volume of the Terrain also changes depending on whether Z Tolerance or Window Size is used as a pyramiding method even though the Surface Volume tool is analyzing the full resolution Terrain data. Is there a specific set of parameters that will produce a Terrain that gives identical volume results to a TIN or are the two methods inherently different in some way?

Re: Using the same point shapefile to construct a Terrain and a TIN gives slightly different maps

KhalidDuri1 — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 06:21:51 GMT

Hello Jonathan, the entire TIN dataset is always evaluated at once, whereas the terrain dataset has a tiling mechanism that's used in analysis operations. The default behavior utilizes a dynamic tile size but an environment setting is available to force the terrain to use its own predefined tile size. This tiling process may potentially account for some discrepancy. Using the environment setting to force the terrain tile size to be used would ensure the same results. If you see it doing otherwise, please share your results and let's see if we can figure out what's going on/