ArcGIS for Desktop

  • Documentation
  • Pricing
  • Support

  • My Profile
  • Help
  • Sign Out
ArcGIS for Desktop

ArcGIS Online

The mapping platform for your organization

ArcGIS for Desktop

A complete professional GIS

ArcGIS for Server

GIS in your enterprise

ArcGIS for Developers

Tools to build location-aware apps

ArcGIS Solutions

Free template maps and apps for your industry

ArcGIS Marketplace

Get apps and data for your organization

  • Documentation
  • Pricing
  • Support
Esri
  • Sign In
user
  • My Profile
  • Sign Out

Help

  • Home
  • Get Started
  • Map
  • Analyze
  • Manage Data
  • Tools
  • More...

Surface feature type (SFType)

Available with 3D Analyst license.

When adding a feature class to a terrain, you need to indicate its surface feature type. This defines the role the feature class will play in defining the terrain dataset surface. There are mass points, breaklines, and several polygon types. Breaklines and polygons also have hard and soft qualifiers. These indicate to the natural neighbors interpolator whether the surface crosses over the features smoothly (soft) or with a potentially sharp discontinuity (hard).

Point and multipoint feature classes can only be represented as mass points.

Polyline and polygon feature classes can be represented as any of the following:

  • Breaklines
  • Clip polygons
  • Erase polygons
  • Replace polygons

For more information on hard and soft qualifiers, see Hard or soft surface feature Types.

For examples of representing terrain surface data, see Points, lines, polygons (mass, break, clip, erase, replace).

Related Topics

  • Types of source data supported in terrain datasets
  • Representing terrain source data in feature classes
  • Building a terrain dataset using the New Terrain wizard
  • Building a terrain dataset with geoprocessing tools
Feedback on this topic?

ArcGIS for Desktop

  • Home
  • Documentation
  • Pricing
  • Support

ArcGIS Platform

  • ArcGIS Online
  • ArcGIS for Desktop
  • ArcGIS for Server
  • ArcGIS for Developers
  • ArcGIS Solutions
  • ArcGIS Marketplace

About Esri

  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Insiders Blog
  • User Conference
  • Developer Summit
Esri
© Copyright 2016 Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. | Privacy | Legal