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Summarize elevation

Summarize Elevation request

The SummarizeElevation request calculates summary statistics for features you provide based on the elevation in Terrain data from the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World. It accepts point, line, or polygon input and returns statistics for the elevation, slope, and aspect of the features.

Request URL

https://elevation.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/Tools/Elevation/GPServer/SummarizeElevation/submitJob

Description

This request summarizes the elevation, slope, and aspect information for the input features.

The returned elevation values are in meters. The slope and aspect values are calculated by the Slope and Aspect raster functions internally using degrees as the output measurement. The returned slope and aspect values are in degrees.

The returned feature also carries three feature attribute fields to identify the DEM data source used in the calculation. Those fields are Product Name, Source, and Source URL.

To calculate the mean aspect for each input feature, the aspect values are first transformed into sine and cosine components. Next, the sum of the sine components (SumSin) and the sum of the cosine components (SumCos) are calculated. Finally, the mean aspect value is determined by the following formula: MeanAspect = Atan2(SumSin, SumCos) * 180 / pi + 180.

Depending on the DEM resolution selected, different data sources will be used by the request.

  • By default, this request currently works worldwide between 60 degrees north and 56 degrees south based on the 3 arc-second (approximately 90-meter) resolution SRTM dataset.
  • For 30m, the request will use 1 arc-second resolution data in North America (Canada, United States, and Mexico) from the USGS National Elevation Dataset (NED), SRTM DEM-S dataset from Geoscience Australia in Australia and SRTM data between 60 degrees north and 56 degrees south in the remaining parts of the world (Africa, South America, most of Europe and continental Asia, the East Indies, New Zealand, and islands of the western Pacific).
  • For 24m, the request will use 0.8 arc-second (approximately 24-meter) data from the global dataset WorldDEM4Ortho from Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, excluding the countries of Azerbaijan, DR Congo, and Ukraine.
  • For 10m, the request will use 1/3 arc-second resolution data in the continental United States from USGS National Elevation Dataset (NED) and approximately 10-meter data covering Norway, Finland, Denmark, Austria, Spain, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovak Republic, Italy, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein from various authoritative sources.

Refer to the locator map to see the areas covered and to learn more about the data sources currently available.

Usage

  • If the DEMResolution parameter is empty or not supplied, the resolution of 90 meters will be used.

  • The maximum number of input features is 1,000. If additional input features are provided, the request will return an error and will not execute.

  • The request uses a single-resolution elevation source for each input feature. The entire feature must fit into a single resolution, or the request will pick the highest resolution that can cover the entire feature.

  • The returned features are the same shape type as the input features. For example, if the input features are points, the returned features are also points.

  • The results are appended to the returned feature attribute table as fields. The MinElevation, MeanElevation, and MaxElevation fields summarize elevation. The MinSlope, MeanSlope, and MaxSlope fields summarize slope. The MeanAspect field summarizes aspect.

  • Oceans and other major water bodies are ignored in the calculations and do not affect the summary values.

Request parameters

ParameterDescription

InputFeatures

(Required)

Input features for which to summarize the elevation. The features can be point, line, or area.

  • Type: Feature Set

  • Syntax:

    {
    "geometryType":"geometryType",
    "spatialReference":<spatialReference>,
    "fields":<fields>,
    "features":<features>,
    }

FeatureIDField

The unique ID field to use for the input features.

  • Type: String

DEMResolution

The approximate spatial resolution (cell size) of the source elevation data used for the calculation.

The resolution values are an approximation of the spatial resolution of the digital elevation model. While many elevation sources are distributed in units of arc seconds, the keyword is an approximation of those resolutions in meters for easier understanding.

  • Type: String

  • Values: FINEST | 10m | 24m | 30m | 90m

IncludeSlopeAspect

Determines whether slope and aspect for the input feature or features will be included in the output. The slope and aspect values in the output are in degrees.

  • Type: Boolean

  • Values: true | false

  • Default: False

Response

When you submit a request, the request assigns a unique job ID for the transaction.

Syntax:

{
"jobId": "<unique job identifier>",
"jobStatus": "<job status>"
}

After the initial request is submitted, you can use the jobId to periodically check the status of the job and messages, as described in the topic Checking job status. Once the job has successfully completed, use the jobId to retrieve the results. To track the status, you can make a request of the following form:

https://elevation.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/Tools/Elevation/GPServer/SummarizeElevation/jobs/<jobId>

Accessing results

When the status of the job request is esriJobSucceeded, you can access the results of the analysis by making a request of the following form:

https://elevation.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/Tools/Elevation/GPServer/SummarizeElevation/jobs/<jobId>/results/OutputSummary?token=<your token>&f=json

ParameterDescription

OutputSummary

(Derived)

The output features that contain the elevation summary information.

  • Type: Feature set