Generating variable width buffer around polygon where buffer width is slope distance

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02-18-2011 01:19 PM
ChrisBates1
New Contributor
Hi everyone,

I'm sorry for the extremely convoluted title, but I thought it would be best to try and describe my issue with a one off.

I am new to ESRI forums, as I usually find what I need by browsing, but while I have seen similar problems to mine, I have not seen a solution that will work for my specific issue. If I have posted this in the wrong section, please feel free to let me know.

The problem is as follows:

I have a series of polygon (for arguments sake lets call them LAKES), and I need to generate a buffer around these polygons. Unfortunately, the euclidean distance does not meet the buffer requirements for this specific application - the buffer must be based on slope distance and thus will vary in width as -for example 10 meters on a steep slope has a much shorter euclidean distance than 10 meters on a gentle slope.

I have a DEM with 25m cell size that covers the same area as the polygons.

What I am wondering is - if i generate the slope from the DEM, would there be an appropriate way to use it to generate the the buffer distance around the polygon feature classes.

Any help is greatly appreciated, and if there is confusion over the problem I would be happy to clarify.

Thanks

Chris
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2 Replies
ChrisBates1
New Contributor
The buffer width does not depend on slope; I have a series of polygons (Lakes) each one is classified as L1 to L4. L1 requires a buffer width of 10 meters while L2 - 3 requires a buffer width of 30 meters and L4 is 40 meters. The buffer width is non euclidean, it is slope distance. Because the slope varies so much around each of these lake polygons, the width with vary (in terms of euclidean distance) but will be a consistent distance in terms of hypotenuse.

Thanks for the quick response,

And again, sorry if i missed a similar thread.

Chris
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ChrisBates1
New Contributor
Thanks William, so far this seems like the most appropriate solution for my project. Much appreciated.

Chris
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