topic Re: Smooth Line tool issues in ArcGIS Pro Questions

Smooth Line tool issues

AdrianWelsh — Mon, 09 Sep 2019 22:58:50 GMT

Hi, I am trying to smooth out some contours using the Smooth Line tool in ArcGIS Pro 2.4.1. Each time I run the tool with the PAEK algorithm, an attribute table is produced with with my contour data but the geometry is all <null>. It's weird because it takes awhile to perform the process but it still produces no geometry. I decided to try the Bezier algorithm and still got the same result - a bunch of nothing.

I saw this thread from a long time, it sounds like people have had the same issue without any resolve:

https://community.esri.com/message/32406

Background: I have a large plot of land (>400 acres) with LiDAR data that is high resolution. I made contour lines out of this and I get a ton of jagged edges and lots of sorta irrelevant points (it's thick and dense - like 35,000 lines). I just want to smooth it down and make it look nice!

Any ideas?

Oh, and why is it when I zoom in that my lines get chunky and don't change based on scale? Is that a new feature?

tagging: 3D‌, LIDAR Resources‌, Lidar and other point clouds‌, Elevation Data‌, 3D Mapping‌

Re: Smooth Line tool issues

KoryKramer — Tue, 10 Sep 2019 13:57:06 GMT

I think we may have addressed the line "chunkiness" over on https://community.esri.com/thread/239902-line-thickness-and-scale-what-happened

Re: Smooth Line tool issues

VinceE — Wed, 25 Nov 2020 19:56:54 GMT

I don't think this is the best way to create smooth, aesthetically pleasing contours. I have found the best approach is smooth the source data, rather than the contours lines. Try using Focal Statistics on your DEM (which I assume you have access to, since you referenced lidar) first, and THEN running contours.