Create Random Points

[MahdiHassan_Nayebi]

Hello there

I have a question, I wonder if anybody can help me with it here.

basically I want to create random points, but I have difficulties with the conditions I want it to be created.

1. I have a field for the number of points in each feature (COUNT)

2. I have a vector/raster with a value for weighting points distribution. (Weight)

I know that I can use "Create Random Points" and do the distribution based on a field, but as far as I know I have no control over their distribution. I wonder if I can do this NUMBER of random points created based on the field that I have and their DISTRIBUTION based on  the value of the vector/raster that i have as their weight for distribution.

I hope somebody can help me with this

Thanks

[MahdiHassan_Nayebi]

That is a polygon feature which contains the count of the points.

The background is a simple ESRI basemap,

[KenBuja]

If you remove the basemap, does it work properly?

[MahdiHassan_Nayebi]

No, still getting the same error. I did delete every other element except the polygon and the boundary.

btw I am using the 10.2.2 version. can there be a version compatibility issue?

[KenBuja]

I didn't see any issue when running this on ArcGIS 10.2.2.

[MahdiHassan_Nayebi]

Thanks Ken Buja‌

It seems that the issue was with the shp file I had, I did create everything from scratch again and it seems that the tool is working perfectly in what it says it does. Just couldn't figure out if it can do the job I need.

Basically there are three methods for sample point creation, Simple, Stratified and Two Stage. To me the Stratified one seems to be the most suitable, but please en light me, cause I can not find a way to implement the tool to get the result I want. The result to me seems exactly like create random points tool in ArcMap. There is no way I could figure out to actually distribute the points proportionally I mean spatially weighted.

Please correct me if I am wrong in any of these statements

Thanks Again

[KenBuja]

I may be misunderstanding how you'd like to distribute the points. The Stratified method allows you to specify how many points will be created in the polygons that have the attributes listed in the field you selected.

In the example I showed in the screenshot in my initial message, there would be 9 points allocated to all the polygons that have the attribute "Coral Reef and Colonized Hardbottom". If there are more than 9 of those polygons, then some polygons will not have a point placed within them.

The number of points that are allocated are initially is set by the number of point you put into the "Sample units to allocate" text box. These points will be allocated to each attribute either proportionally by the area of the polygons or equally by dividing the number of points by the number of unique attributes. You can also manually allocate these points by changing the numbers in the table.