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Elevation analysis service

The elevation analysis service performs analyses on the elevation in Terrain data from the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World in order to derive surface information, such as calculating visible areas, returning profile features, and summarizing elevation values for the input feature data. The elevation data used by these analyses is available at different spatial extents and resolutions. See the data coverage section for more information.

Key features

  • Create viewsheds to identify visible areas based on input observer locations
  • Find elevation values along input lines and return a profile feature
  • Calculate summary statistics for elevation values in areas covered by the input features

Access the services

To access the spatial analysis service, you need the following:

Tip:

To learn more about API keys and OAuth 2.0, go to Security and authentication in the Mapping APIs and location services guide.

Example

This example shows how to calculate viewshed using the viewshed request.

1. Send a job request to calculate viewshed.

POST https://elevation.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/Tools/Elevation/GPServer/Viewshed/submitJob HTTP/1.1
content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded

f=json
&token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>
&InputPoints={"url":"https://sampleserver6.arcgisonline.com/arcgis/rest/services/Military/FeatureServer/2"}
&MaximumDistance=15
&MaximumDistanceUnits=Kilometers
&DEMResolution=90m
&ObserverHeight=2
&ObserverHeightUnits=Meters
&SurfaceOffset=0
&SurfaceOffsetUnits=Meters
&GeneralizeViewshedPolygons=true
&context={
  "extent":{
    "xmin":-13346035.5147852,
    "ymin":4158841.0975389,
    "xmax":-13313204.4419169,
    "ymax":4174735.07010641,
    "spatialReference":{
      "wkid":102100,
      "latestWkid":3857
    }
  }
}

2. Check the job status using the provided jobID until the job has succeeded or failed. Learn more about submitting GP Jobs.

POST https://elevation.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/Tools/Elevation/GPServer/Viewshed/jobs/<jobID> HTTP/1.1
content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded

f=json
&token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>

3. Once the job has succeeded, get the results.

POST https://elevation.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/Tools/Elevation/GPServer/Viewshed/jobs/<jobID>/results/OutputViewshed HTTP/1.1
content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded

f=json
&token=<ACCESS_TOKEN>
&returnType="data"