topic Re: Z factor in ASCII 3D to Feature Class in 3D Questions https://community.esri.com/t5/3d-questions/z-factor-in-ascii-3d-to-feature-class/m-p/605884#M3618 <HTML><HEAD></HEAD><BODY><A href="http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//009z000000vm000000.htm">http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//009z000000vm000000.htm</A><BR /><BR /><SPAN>- Jie</SPAN></BODY></HTML> Wed, 28 Mar 2012 15:27:32 GMT JieChang 2012-03-28T15:27:32Z Z factor in ASCII 3D to Feature Class https://community.esri.com/t5/3d-questions/z-factor-in-ascii-3d-to-feature-class/m-p/605883#M3617 <HTML><HEAD></HEAD><BODY><SPAN>I have a very large XYZ file of bathymetric soundings. X is longitude in decimal degrees, Y is latitude in decimal degrees, and Z is negative meters. Coordinates are in WGS84.</SPAN><BR /><SPAN>Sample record:</SPAN><BR /><SPAN>-86.23 21.45 -125.67</SPAN><BR /><BR /><SPAN>I want to eventually turn these points into a TIN. I am able to create a 3D feature class with a Z factor of 1 (default), but after turning the FC into a TIN, I get a vertical exaggeration error when opening the TIN in ArcScene. Calculating the exaggeration from extent yields a number like 0.00000009. Do I need use a Z factor to convert the meter depths into some miniscule portion of a degree? Isn't the number of meters in a degree dependent on latitude? What is an appropriate Z factor here?</SPAN><BR /><BR /><SPAN>Thanks</SPAN></BODY></HTML> Wed, 28 Mar 2012 02:30:27 GMT https://community.esri.com/t5/3d-questions/z-factor-in-ascii-3d-to-feature-class/m-p/605883#M3617 LeighHolcombe 2012-03-28T02:30:27Z Re: Z factor in ASCII 3D to Feature Class https://community.esri.com/t5/3d-questions/z-factor-in-ascii-3d-to-feature-class/m-p/605884#M3618 <HTML><HEAD></HEAD><BODY><A href="http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//009z000000vm000000.htm">http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//009z000000vm000000.htm</A><BR /><BR /><SPAN>- Jie</SPAN></BODY></HTML> Wed, 28 Mar 2012 15:27:32 GMT https://community.esri.com/t5/3d-questions/z-factor-in-ascii-3d-to-feature-class/m-p/605884#M3618 JieChang 2012-03-28T15:27:32Z Re: Z factor in ASCII 3D to Feature Class https://community.esri.com/t5/3d-questions/z-factor-in-ascii-3d-to-feature-class/m-p/605885#M3619 <HTML><HEAD></HEAD><BODY><SPAN>Thank you, that's exactly what I needed.</SPAN></BODY></HTML> Wed, 28 Mar 2012 16:47:07 GMT https://community.esri.com/t5/3d-questions/z-factor-in-ascii-3d-to-feature-class/m-p/605885#M3619 LeighHolcombe 2012-03-28T16:47:07Z Re: Z factor in ASCII 3D to Feature Class https://community.esri.com/t5/3d-questions/z-factor-in-ascii-3d-to-feature-class/m-p/605886#M3620 <HTML><HEAD></HEAD><BODY><SPAN>Leigh,</SPAN><BR /><BR /><SPAN>I'm sorry, but that is not what you want to do.&nbsp; You may be able to visualize your TIN by setting a vertical exaggeration to a small number, but the validity of your surface is compromised from the beginning because you built it using data in a GCS.&nbsp;&nbsp; Delaunay triangulations are not valid when constructed using angular coordinates from geographic coordinate systems.&nbsp; A TIN should be constructed from data in feet, meters, not decimal degrees.</SPAN><BR /><BR /><A href="http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//006000000001000000.htm">What is a TIN surface?</A><BR /><BR /><SPAN>Please project your point data into something that uses meters (since your z is in meters), like UTM, Albers, etc... Then reconstruct your TIN.&nbsp; When x,y,z are all in meters you don't have to worry about z factor.&nbsp; It will be 1.&nbsp; If the surface is flat relative to its extent, you can use vertical exaggeration to show more relief. Perhaps a value of 2.5 or something.</SPAN><BR /><BR /><A href="http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//00q8000000z5000000">About Vertical Exaggeration</A><BR /><BR /><SPAN>Best Regards,</SPAN><BR /><SPAN>Eric</SPAN></BODY></HTML> Wed, 28 Mar 2012 20:02:17 GMT https://community.esri.com/t5/3d-questions/z-factor-in-ascii-3d-to-feature-class/m-p/605886#M3620 EricRice 2012-03-28T20:02:17Z Re: Z factor in ASCII 3D to Feature Class https://community.esri.com/t5/3d-questions/z-factor-in-ascii-3d-to-feature-class/m-p/605887#M3621 <HTML><HEAD></HEAD><BODY><SPAN>Thanks, Eric, I'll give that a go.</SPAN></BODY></HTML> Sat, 31 Mar 2012 15:41:50 GMT https://community.esri.com/t5/3d-questions/z-factor-in-ascii-3d-to-feature-class/m-p/605887#M3621 LeighHolcombe 2012-03-31T15:41:50Z