Contour Button

Question

On the spatial and 3D Analyst Toolbars there is the create contour tool.  Is there any difference in the functionality between these two tools.  Currently, running the tool on the spatial analyst toolbar generates a contour in about 25 minutes.  On the 3D toolbar it has turned by ArcMap white after about 25 minutes.  I would imagine the functionality to be equal.

TedCronin · Answer

Ted,

The button should be the same on both toolbars. I tested the latest build today and both worked just fine. 25 minutes seems like a really long time to calculate one isoline. How large is your dem? If you use the two buttons on a small sample dem like the one from the SA tutorial data (9.3 data) does one take longer than the other?

Along the lines of gathering user feedback; What do you find useful about this button? Why would you want a single contour line as a graphic? Why not use the Contour or Contour List GP tools?

Regards,

Our DTM is about 4 GBs, so, it takes awhile.  Pretty much all my tests are on large datasets, since that is where issues are typically encountered with ESRI software;)
 
Not really sure of the use of this tool as to why the SA toolbar is kinda not needed, I can get it from the 3D toolbar which still has a lot of stuff to keep the toolbar in play, but then we have both extensions (Some users only have Spatial).  The tool itself perhaps could be useful for Appraisers but only if we could expose it in the APIs (GP Services would be used instead), other than that, I would probably not use this as a go to tool, and lean on the GP stuff. I think it is fantastic to FINALLY remove all that legacy stuff, for at the minimum, consistency across the spectrum has been implemented, or at least has started to be implemented.

EricRice · Answer

Ted,

The button should be the same on both toolbars. I tested the latest build today and both worked just fine.  25 minutes seems like a really long time to calculate one isoline.  How large is your dem?  If you use the two buttons on a small sample dem like the one from the SA tutorial data (9.3 data) does one take longer than the other?

Along the lines of gathering user feedback; What do you find useful about this button?  Why would you want a single contour line as a graphic?  Why not use the Contour or Contour List GP tools?

Regards,