Extract Values to Points error

[PeterMelle]

Hello,

I am trying to use the extraction tool in spatial analyst, specifically extract values to points. I need to extract values from an input raster from a vulnerability map to a point layer of groundwater wells, but when I perfrom the operation I get the following error message:


Executing: ExtractValuesToPoints Buda_Wells DRASTIC H:\Senior_Project\DRASTIC_MAP\DRASTIC\Well_DRASTICScores\trial1.shp NONE VALUE_ONLY
Start Time: Fri Mar 25 10:57:28 2011
ERROR 999998: Unexpected Error.
Failed to execute (ExtractValuesToPoints).
End Time: Fri Mar 25 10:57:29 2011 (Elapsed Time: 1.00 seconds)

I am unable to determine the cause as this is a general error. Any suggestions?

[DanPatterson_Retired]

are both files in the same coordinate system?  don't rely on the view of the data since projection on the fly make things look nice, but they aren't

[PeterMelle]

yes, both files have the same coordinate system.

[DanPatterson_Retired]

this is the only bug associated with it
http://resources.arcgis.com/content/nimbus-bug?bugID=TklNMDU5OTcy
try another dataset and see if it works if you are sure that both files have the same coordinate system (hopefully you didn't use Define Projection at any step of the process...you could have defined one or more wrong)

[curtvprice]

I have had issues with this tool and sometimes have found that the sample tool does the same thing (with more options and can handle multiple rasters at at time). You didn't say which version of arc you are using but there have been fixes over the years.

[PeterMelle]

I am using the ArcgGIS 9.3 platform. I am still unable to figure this bug out. In the properties for both files, the coordinate systems and datums are both the same and I verified this in Arc toolbox. I looked at the bug patterson had suggested and am trying to work from there. How do I determine if the Input Raster is a geodatabase raster dataset?

[JamesSwart]

Try clicking off the enable background processing check-box in the Geoprocessing options. This fixed the same error message when trying to do buffers, intersections, and other geoprocessing tools.

[MikeLackner]

Hello,

I'm not getting an error message but the output rastervalu field is all zeros. I'm using a shp file and tiff raster that are both in the same projection in ArcGIS 10. Is it possible that the tool doesn't like tiff images?

Mike

[PeterMelle]

Hi Mike,

I ended up using the help from an ESRI representative through our service contract because I couldn't fiugure out what the issue was with my data either. They were great and we got the issue figured out within a day. The rep told me that within my data "A column may not start with a number or underscore. Here is a document explaining naming conventions http://resources.arcgis.com/content/kbase?fa=articleShow&d=23087. Note: The column names are no longer an issue at ArcGIS 10. If you have access to a machine which has ArcGIS 10 installed, you would be able to run Extract Values to Points without any issue." I hope that this helps.

[MikeLackner]

Hi Peter,

Thanks for the quick reply and info. However, I'm not sure if this solves my problem, espcially I am already using ArcGIS 10 and while my shp file does have a field with an underscore in it, it's not related to this tool, since the 'extract values to points' tool creates its own 'rastervalu' field for the output calculations.

Using an ESRI Grid as opposed to a tiff file seemed to work however. I could even use the 'extract multi values to points' tool to extract values from two rasters at once. It was a bit slow (10 minutes for a shp file with about 300 records for 2 rasters about 5000x5000 pixels). It even let me create the output fields starting with and underscore, but you mentioned that's no longer an issue in ArcGIS 10.

Long story short, don't use tiff files for this tool but ESRI grids instead, which is a bit inconvenient. Loading the source data into a geodatabase might be another option, but I'm not going to try that now.

Cheers,

Mike

Hi Mike,

I ended up using the help from an ESRI representative through our service contract because I couldn't fiugure out what the issue was with my data either. They were great and we got the issue figured out within a day. The rep told me that within my data "A column may not start with a number or underscore. Here is a document explaining naming conventions http://resources.arcgis.com/content/kbase?fa=articleShow&d=23087. Note: The column names are no longer an issue at ArcGIS 10. If you have access to a machine which has ArcGIS 10 installed, you would be able to run Extract Values to Points without any issue." I hope that this helps.