Analyzing Surfaces

You can perform many types of surface-related analysis, including contour, directions, elevations, slopes, slope-arrows, watersheds, and water drop path.

Surface analysis types include:

• Directions. Used for aspect analysis. Renders surface triangles differently according to the direction they face.
• Elevations. Used for elevation banding analysis. Renders surface triangles differently according to their elevation range.
• Slopes. Renders surface triangles differently according to the slope range they fall within.
• Slope Arrows. Used for slope direction analysis. Places a slope directional arrow at each triangle centroid. The arrow color is based on the color assigned to a slope range, similar to slope analysis.
• Contours. Renders contour lines differently in according to their elevation range.
• User-Defined Contours. Renders user-defined contour lines differently according to their elevation range.
• Watersheds. Renders watersheds differently according to their type.
• Contour Problems. Used to locate problems with contours that are drawn according to the surface style contour settings.
• Water Drop. Used to trace the path that water would take across a surface.

Use the Analysis tab in the Surface Style dialog box to control the display and styles for direction, elevation, slope, and slope arrow analysis. Contours and watersheds have corresponding tabs (Contours tab and Watersheds tab), where their style and display are controlled. Use the Analysis tab in the Surface Properties dialog box to create the actual analysis.

To check for contour problems using a separate utility, click Analyze Ground Data panel Contour Check  Find.

To perform water drop analysis in a separate utility, click Analyze Ground Data Water Drop  Find.