ArcGIS10.1 Desktop: Creating a 3D surface & 8 points of cluster under the surface

[ScottChang]

Hi all,

I just gained some skills of Vector Modeling for Points, Polylines and Polygons by using the XY-coordinates and the Z-value (elevation) stored in the geodatabases of ArcGIS 10.1 Desktop. I don't know anything about Raster, Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN), Terrain Datasets, and LAS Datasets.  I don't have ArcScene and ArcGlobe programs to create a new 3D feature.  Given the following data: (i) 4 locations with the XY-coordinates and the Z-value (elevation), (ii) collect soil samples at 2 depths for each location (i.e. 8 points), and (iii) the soil samples are analyzed for asenic, chromium and lead, I need to do (1) to create a 3D surface from the XY-coordinates and the Z-value of the 4 locations, and (2) to create a cluster of 8 points under the surface. In the program of ArcGIS 10.1 Desktop, how can I do (1) and (2) by using the ArcPy-Python programming? Please kindly help and advise me as much as you can.

Thanks in advance,
Scott Chang

[JimCousins]

Scott, what you need to do is interpolate a surface from point data. This can be accomplished with the Spatial Analyst extention as well as 3D Analyst and the Geostatistical Analyst extentions. If you do not have access to these, you could search for open source kriging algorithms online ie: HPGL (High Performance Geostatistics Library) is open source with a number of kriging algorithms.
Regards,
Jim

[ScottChang]

Hi Jim, Thanks for your nice, valuable response.

The Spatial Analyst extension, the Geostatistical Analyst extensions, and 3D Analyst are new to me. Are they already in the toolbox of the ArcGIS 10.1 program? 

Please respond.

Thanks again,
Scott Chang

[JimCousins]

Scott, these are all extensions / paid add-ons. Look under the main menu to see if you have access to any of them: Customize >> Extensions. ESRI does allow you to have a trial period and test extensions for 30-60 days, so that is always an option, too.

[ScottChang]

Hi Jim, Thanks for your response.

I just found out yesterday that I have ArcScene and ArcGlobe as parts of ArcGIS 10.1 Desktop in my PC. I am going to use the ArcScene to create a 3D TIN surface by using the values of XYZ of 10 points for a project site located in the Aberdeen, Maryland.
I have these 10-Point XYZ values stored in a dbo Table of SQLEXPRESS.sde of Database Connections in my ArcCatalog 10.1.  Also, in my ArcMap 10.1, I have a .mdx Map that has 2 Attribute Tables that have the 10-Point XYZ values. I don't know which set of the 10-Point XYZ values I should use in the creating a 3D TIN surface in the ArcScene program!!??  I read the Introducing the ArcScene user interface from http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/index.html. But I cannot bring out all the items of the ArcScene environment shown on the first page of "Get to know the ArcScene user interface" of the article and I don't know what the UI features are (i. e. I don't know how to get the UI feature numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 appeared and displayed)!!?? Please kindly help and enlighten me in (1) which set of the 10-Point XYZ values I should use in the 3D TIN process, and (2) how I can get the items (tools, UI featrues, etc.) appeared and displayed on the ArcScene environment for me to know the UI features #1 thru #6.

Thanks in advance,
Scott Chang