Measuring river width in ArcMap

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04-02-2019 01:44 AM
MathieuPronnet
New Contributor

Hi,

i´ve been searching a while to find a solution to my problem but could not find any.

I need to measure the width of rivers i have as a shape and then make the parts that are >x metres form a new layer.

Any ideas?

I have ArcMap 10.4.1

Thanks,

Stalagmit

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4 Replies
DanPatterson_Retired
MVP Emeritus

if you have ArcGIS Pro and the Production Mapping extension, you can easily

Polygon To Centerline—Topographic Production toolbox | ArcGIS Desktop 

If you have the Spatial Analyst extension, you can approximate the centerline using Euclidean Distance.

There are other means but perhaps a little more complex

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MathieuPronnet
New Contributor

Thank you for your help!

I do have acces to ArcGIS Pro but do not have a license for Polygon to Centerline so i can´t do it that way.

Do you have any other ideas?

I´d be happy to hear of other possibilities you have in mind.

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DanPatterson_Retired
MVP Emeritus

Sorry, none, the spatial analyst variant would be more cumbersome

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MathieuPronnet
New Contributor

I managed to get the Polygon to centerline Tool.

Running it takes quite much time as I need to create the centerline for 800+km of rivers.

After having created the centerline for a test I buffered it with 501cm because i need rivers less wide than 10m.

I then selected the buffered parts with "select by location". Selection method "select features from", Target layer "centerline Buffer", source layer "parts adjacent to the river", spatial selection method for target layer features "intersect the source layer feature". Search distance "off" (I possibly could also define search distance to 501cm?!) Then I create a new layer from selected. I then use the intersect Tool to combine the rivers with the buffered Centerline so that the Polygons from the center line do not exceed the river.

It probably isn´t the most efficient way but it is precise enough for what i need.

I tried to increase the speed of Polygon to centerline with dissolve but it still takes VERY long.

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