ArcGIS 10.2 - How to create an elevation profile with raster?

[VincentLaunstorfer]

Hi,

I have a line shapefile and I would like to extract elevation value from a raster DEM in order to create an elevation profile. As shown attached...

Is there a smart was of doing this in ArcGIS?

Thanks

[IanMurray · Accepted solution]

If you have the 3D Analyst Extension, you can try the Stack Profile Tool.

ArcGIS Help (10.2, 10.2.1, and 10.2.2)

[VincentLaunstorfer]

Thank you

It works great (see attached). I just had to make sure my project was projected in order to get meters/kilometres for the x axis...

However, Properties and Advanced Properties are very limited as usual with ArcGIS with charts formatting, and even bug! (shown attached).

At least, with the attribute table, I can rework the charts in Excel but it is all manual and cannot automatized the workflow easily in ArcGIS!

[SepheFox]

If you've enabled the 3D analyst extension you can also use the toolbar:

1. In ArcMap, ensure that the layer containing the 3D line features you want to profile is checked as visible in the table of contents.
2. Click the Select Features tool from the Tools toolbar.
3. Click the 3D line feature or features you want to profile.
4. Click the Create Profile Graph button on the 3D Analyst toolbar. The profile graph appears as a floating window on your map.

   .

[SepheFox]

If you don't have 3D analyst, you should take a look at ET Surface (ArcGIS tools add-ons and extensions from ET SpatialTechniques). The unregistered version has some limitations, but it might be enough to get your job done.

[VincentLaunstorfer]

Unfortunately, the Profile Graph button works only if the shapefile is z enabled with values... It doesn't stack the z values from an underlying raster as the Stack Profile tool...unless I miss something.

Thanks