3D Polygon with a curved slope

[JonathanDiLella]

I have been tasked to determine what trees near an airfield need to be trimmed. (They don't want the trees removed). There is a large area of trees that are starting to enter into the flight path, and it is becoming a concern. My thinking process is to create a 3d polygon with the base of it being sloped to the requirements of the flight path. Every 37 ft it goes up 1 ft.  Lay the 3D polygon over the las file and see what areas are protruding into the polygon.  I was able to create a 3d polygon and add the las file. but I cannot seem to figure out how to make the base of the polygon with a curved slope. 

Has anyone worked on a project like this that could guide me in the right direction? Or am I going about this all wrong and there is another simpler way?

[Koeller_Christine_A_-_DOT]

We have a similar workflow that we use in the WisDOT Bureau of Aeronautics. Did you define the elevation of each vertex in your polygon? It should be in the same vertical units as your LAS data and map projection/coordinate system. The result is viewed as a Scene. 

If you have access to the Esri Airports Extension, then you might be able to use that to analyze the obstructions as well. If you don't have the Airports extension, you could try converting all your data to raster surfaces and perform a raster analysis to compare the heights. Th raster solution is a little more complicated. 

[KiyoshiYamashita]

ArcGIS Aviation includes tools that can help you create these surfaces.  By default, the surfaces use parameters (i.e. slopes, etc.) that conform to various US and international standards.  But there is also a utility that lets you customize many of these parameters.  For example, you could change the default 50:1 slope to a 37:1 slope if desired.  The tool can create both 3D polygon and multipatch output.  Also, as Christine mentioned above, there are tools that can help you perform the required analysis as well.  In particular, the Analyze LAS Runway Obstacles tool (https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/tool-reference/aviation/analyze-las-runway-obstacles.htm) compares LAS data to the 3D surfaces (multipatch features) you create, to identify areas where the point cloud penetrates the surfaces.

Without access to ArcGIS Aviation Airports, the raster approach described above is probably a suitable substitute.