Z data in arcpad

2006
5
02-19-2016 10:59 AM
ChrisM
by
New Contributor III

I had some students a month ago do some mapping with Arcpad in a mobilemapper. The shapefiles that were generated only seem to have the x and y data, not the z data recorded (or visible in the attribute table/dbf file). Is there a way to get these data in Arcmap? I'd like to use them to convert an arbitrary grid to UTM. I can do this for easting and northing but not for elevation without the z data. Is there a reason why these data are not showing up? Were they not recorded by Arcpad in the mobilmapper when they recorded points? Is it possible to go back to the mobile mapper and find out the z data as recorded in the unit? Or are these data basically now gone?

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5 Replies
DanPatterson_Retired
MVP Emeritus

the coordinates in a shapefile are not evident by default.  If it is a 3D point file, then you can use

Add XY Coordinates—Help | ArcGIS for Desktop

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ChrisM
by
New Contributor III

Thanks! the x and y data show up but not the z data

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DanPatterson_Retired
MVP Emeritus

in the Shape field does it just say Point or PointZM.  If it is the former, then it is a 2D point file and someone calculated the x,y coordinates for you... If it is the latter, then they forgot the Z or it didn't exist in the first place.  So... on a backup copy of the file, if it is 3D point file...give it a whirl and see if the Z values are there.  If it is just a 2D point file (aka Point in the shape field), then sadly, there is nothing to do.

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ChrisM
by
New Contributor III

The column headings are "Datum" (which is the name I gave), "POINT_X" and "POINT_Y". Could the z data still be on the unit somewhere in a file I missed when I copied them over to the machine? Seems like a major omission that arcpad would automatically collect the x and y data but not the z data

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DanPatterson_Retired
MVP Emeritus

As indicated, if the Shape field in the shapefile's tabe just says Point then it is not a 3D point it is 2D and therefore has no Z.  If it says PointZM then someone forgot to calculate or get out the Z values  The X,Y and Z values are stored in the Shape field... you can't see them, you have to get them out into the shapefile table using one of several methods in ArcMap...don't know about ArcPad, but ArcMap for sure

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