randomPointsInPolygons

Generates random points located in the polygons of the input polygon dataset. The number of points per polygon can be constant or different for each polygon - based on the values in a numeric field of the input polygon feature class.

Inputs:

A polygon feature class
The number of points per polygon can be input in one of the following ways
- A numeric field which values will be used to get the number of points to be generated per polygon.
- A constant number
Optional: The maximum number of points per polygon. This parameter is to enforce max number of points if a field is used for getting the number of points to be generated. For example if a field is selected and the values in this field range from 5 to 50,000. And the maximum number of points is set to 100, on the polygons that have values > 100 in the field only 100 points will be generated. The default value is 500.
Optional: Minimum Distance from boundary - no point will be generated that is closer than this tolerance to the boundary of the polygon (introduced in version 10.2).
Optional: Minimum distance between the points (introduced in version 11.0)

Outputs:

New Point feature class.
The following fields are added to the attribute table of the resulting feature class.
- [ET_ID] - the ID of the original polygon
- [ET_X] - the X coordinate of the point
- [ET_Y] - the Y coordinate of the point

Notes:

If the number of points specified cannot be placed in specific polygon, a message will be stored in the log file.
The larger minimum distance between the points specified, the more uniform the points created will be.

Illustration:

Original polygons labeled with the values in field to be used as a source for getting the number of points to be generated and the resulting points.
Distance between points = 0, Minimum distance to boundary = 0

30 points per polygon.
Distance between points = 0, Minimum distance to boundary = 0

30 points per polygon.
Distance between points = 0, Minimum distance to boundary = 5

30 points per polygon.
Distance between points = 5, Minimum distance to boundary = 0

30 points per polygon.
Distance between points = 5, Minimum distance to boundary = 5

ToolBox implementation
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Command line syntax

ET_GPRandomPointsInPolygons<input_dataset> <out_feature_class> {number_points_field} {number_points} {min_distance_between_points} {min_distance}

Parameters

Expression	Explanation
<input_dataset>	A Polygon feature class or feature layer
<out_feature_class>	A String - the full name of the output feature class.
{number_points_field}	A String representing the name of a numeric field which values will be used to get the number of points to be generated per polygon.
{number_points}	Optional. A number that is used in two ways If a number_points_field is specified, number_points is used as maximum points allowed per polygon If a number_points_field is an empty string, number_points is used as a constant that define the number of points to be generated per polygon
{min_distance_between_points}	A Double specifying the minimum distance between the points.
{min_distance}	A Double specifying the minimum distance from boundary.

Note: One of number_points_field or number_points should be specified.

Scripting syntax

ET_GPRandomPointsInPolygons(input_dataset, out_feature_class, number_points_field, number_points, min_distance_between_points, min_distance)

See the explanations above:
<> - required parameter
{} - optional parameter