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Zonal Statistics analog tool that produces a vector layer, not a polygon layer

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08-28-2024 07:35 AM
jmc_123
New Contributor

I have a raster layer with a DEM of difference for two years of LIDAR data. This layer is masked such that the raster cells only appear in circular areas (100-ft radius buffer areas around stormwater outfalls). There are around 3,000 of these circles in the raster layer. I want to create a vector layer with polygons, with each polygon having attributes (mean, sum, and max value) that describe statistics of the raster cells within the boundaries of the polygon. 

The Zonal Statistics tool allows me to calculate mean, sum, max value etc separately for each circular area of cells by using a vector polygon layer as my "Input Raster of Feature Zone Data" input, and using my raster layer as the "Input Value Raster" input. However, the output of the Zonal Statistics tool is a raster, not a vector polygon layer. I know that the "Raster to Polygon" tool allows me to create a polygon layer out of the resultant raster layer, but this process is clunky- it takes a while, forces me to convert my values from floats to integers, and causes me to lose some data because of the way that my polygon input layer is rasterized.

I was wondering if there is a tool that does what Zonal Statistics does, but produces a vector polygon layer (with the statistics as attributes) rather than a raster layer.

Thanks in advance for any wisdom you can provide!

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1 Reply
clt_cabq
Frequent Contributor

I wonder if the Zonal Statistics as Table tool is what you want. Produces the same data as ZS but just as a table as output and it looks like there is an option to join it back to your zone input vector layer.