ETG_ContoursToRaster

Contours To Raster

Interpolates a raster surface from contour polylines.

Input polyline feature dataset containing contours.
Output raster name and format.
Elevation field - a field from the attribute table to be used as a source for the values of the raster. The Z values of the input PolylineZ dataset can be also used as source for the raster values. In this case use "Shape" as parameter.
Cell Size of the output raster.

Output raster (DEM).

The algorithm is specifically designed to use contours as input. If a polyline dataset that represents a different feature is used the results might be unexpected.
In polylines the "Shape" option means that the Z values will be extracted from vertices of the polyline. The Z values for all vertices in a polyline need to be the same for the algorithm to produce correct result.
It is strongly recommended to clean all possible gaps in the contours before using the Contour To Raster function. If your contour dataset has gaps use the Clean Contour Gaps function.
The input format accepted are file based rasters - ERDAS IMAGINE or Tagged Image File Format (TIFF).
The .NET ToolBox for ArcGIS Desktop accepts also FileGDB Raster inputs.
For file based rasters initially the name of the output raster define the raster format:
- .img extension (for example raster1.img) - ERDAS IMAGINE image.
- .tif extension (for example raster1.tif) - TIFF image.
- The initial output raster format can be changed by selecting the desired output in the dialog.

Parameters

Expression	Explanation
Function Name	ContoursToRaster
<input dataset>	A String representing the input layer. Must be of Polyline type.
<output raster>	A String - the full name of the output raster.
<elevation field>	A String representing the name of the field which values are going to be used for interpolation. Use "Shape" to use the feature Z values.
<cell size>	A Double representing the cell size of the output raster.

ETSPath used in the table below is the full path to ETSRun.exe (E.G. "C:\Program Files\ETSpatial Techniques\ETSurface\ETSRun.exe")

Language	Syntax
Python	subprocess.call([ETSPath, "ContoursToRaster", "input dataset", "output raster", "elevation field", "cell size"])
.NET using ETSRun.exe	StartInfo.FileName = ETSPath StartInfo.Arguments = "ContoursToRaster" "input dataset" "output raster" "elevation field" "cell size"
.NET using ETSOutX.dll	ContoursToRaster(input dataset, output raster, elevation field, cell size)
ArcPy	arcpy.ContoursToRaster("input dataset", "output raster", "elevation field", "cell size")

Notes:

<> - required parameter
{} - optional parameter
See examples for Python , .NET or ArcPy
The argument separator for StartInfo.Arguments is space. If a string might contain a space, you need to double quote it.