Esri Mapping Center - Ask a Cartographer

Tree raster from point feature class?

November 09 2009 | 3 comments
Categories: Map Data

I have a tree point feature class that I would like to use for a cartographic effect similar to the bump mapping that you used on the Crater Lake map. The problem is that the feature class takes a really long time to draw (it has hundreds of thousands of individual points). So I want to convert it into a raster. Is there a good way to do this using Spatial Analyst? I know how to convert points to rasters but I want to do it so that I get bumps like in the Crater Lake map.
Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Mapping Center Answer:

You can create a density surface from the tree point -- the point density or kernel density tools will create surface that will indicate where you have a lot of trees. You could also use the hot spot analysis tool -- with a little more work -- which would produce a surface that indicates the density of trees using a value of statistical significance to show you where there are more and less trees than you would normally expect to find.

Bump map tools posted by Aileen Buckley on Nov 9 2009 2:29PM

By the way, we are getting ready to release a set of bump mapping tools that will make the creation of a bump map surface a LOT easier. We have to test a couple of more things with it and then we will be putting it out on Mapping Center's ArcGIS Resources -> Models page -- hopefully before Thanksgiving!

Thanks posted by Chris Cannaday on Mar 1 2010 8:43AM

It took me a while but I figured out how to create a raster using the point density tool as you suggested. I also managed to put together a bump map using the new Bump Mapping tool. Thanks for the help and the great new tool.
I really appreciate it.

Thanks,

Chris C.

You're welcome! posted by Aileen Buckley on Mar 1 2010 8:46AM

Glad you find the tools useful!

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