Is there a way to calculate the mean elevation of a polyline?

[BenRobson]

Hi there,
As a part of my master thesis I've mapped from several years, the transient snow-line of a large Norwegian glacier, which relates to the health state of the glacier. I have a a high quality DEM over the same area, my question is - is there a way to work out the mean elevation of these polylines I have created? I tried creating a 1 metre buffer for the polylines, hoping to convert it to a raster, reclassify the values to 1, and then multiply using the raster calculator by the DEM. However when I try to convert the buffer polygon to a raster, the entire area that is enclosed within the polyline (the polyline is circular around the whole ice mass) is converted instead.

Could anyone help?

Ben

[EricRice]

Ben,

If your polylines are 3d lines, then you can run Add Z Information.  If your polylines are 2d, and you have a DEM (which you do), then you can run Add Surface Information.  Both tools require a 3D Analyst license.

Regards,
Eric

[BenRobson]

OK Great, thank you very much. I shall try it tomorrow and report back!

Ben

[BenRobson]

Hi Eric,
It works fine, so thank you very much!

Ben

[EricRice]

Glad I could help!

[JoanneDollasin]

Hi! I'm Joanne & I'm a newbie in ArcGIS...
can you please help me with this:
I have a rainfall map (Isohyets) measured in mm (precipitation)... I wanted to know a particular value (precipitation) in a point roughly in between 2 lines... how can I do this? Do I have to convert/interpolate these polylines so I could have a Rainfall raster instead? So that I would know the precipitation in any point based on cell values of the Rainfall raster? If so, how do I make a raster map from my rainfall contours/isohyets? Pls help.

[BenRobson]

Hi Joanne,
If each of your lines has the value in the attribute table of an amount of rainfall, I suppose you could use "Topo to Raster" as if it were elevation data - http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#/Topo_to_Raster/009z0000006s000000/

This will interpolate between the lines and create a raster.

Hope it works!

Ben

[BenRobson]

Actually that link is a bit confusing, just try searching on ArcGIS for topo raster!

[JoanneDollasin]

Hi Joanne,
If each of your lines has the value in the attribute table of an amount of rainfall, I suppose you could use "Topo to Raster" as if it were elevation data - http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#/Topo_to_Raster/009z0000006s000000/

This will interpolate between the lines and create a raster.

Hope it works!

Ben

Hello Ben,
Thanks so much...I'll check this out,..
Regards & be safe.