Calculating Surface Volume from Point Data

[ScottEverett]

I'm trying to calculate the volume of stockpiles of material. I have Trimble point data from which I can define a reference plane and the surface plane. I tried converting to raster and running the Cut Fill tool in Spatial Analyst but it errors out.

Any insight into process details would be appreciated.

[DanPatterson_Retired · Accepted solution]

converting to raster isn't sufficient, you need a continuous surface and will probably have to interpolate your point data into a surface, since conversion straight to raster will not create the raster surface needed as shown in the help file

[ScottEverett]

Thank you kindly, Sir. Is there any reason to choose or avoid specific methods for the interpolation?

[DanPatterson_Retired]

It all depends upon the nature of your data.  Whole courses are taught on the subject...and the subject is often subjective in itself.