Polyline to Raster "No Data"

[aaronboci1]

I created a raster from contour lines. The contour has a 2 M resolution and I set the cell size to 5. Increasing the cell size is not an option and I may even run it again on a smaller scale. I have a lot of cells that did not have a contour line pass through them so they came up as no data. What tool should I use to give these cells an elevation that is either equal to the closest polyline or even better, a distance weighted value between two cells that have a value. I like the ideas of interpolation with IDW, nat neighbor, and kriging, but they work for point values. Is there a better way than transforming my cells to points, then interpolating, and then changing them back with values?

[DanPatterson_Retired]

Did you rule out Topotoraster tool? http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.2/index.html#//009z0000006s000000

[aaronboci1]

This will not work from raster cells because it is an invalid input. I think I will have to change my raster layer to a point layer. Then try the interpolation methods to give each point an elevation value. Then go back with point to raster. I will try this method, I just didn't want to spend the time since my data set isn't very small and because of uncertainty being created with every transformation of data.

[SteveLynch]

The TopoToRaster tool was written to create a DEM from contour lines.
It takes point, polyline and polygon features as input.

-Steve

[curtvprice]

Steve is quite right, and I feel compelled to add that Topo To Raster works better with contour lines input than with points -- using the curve of the line to determine some of the weights to try to minimize terrace effects caused by the inherent sample bias in contour data.

It's really quite nifty.

[aaronboci1]

Ok, I am giving the TopoToRast a go. Once the School's computer runs the tool, I will let you know if it brings up results that can be used in my future analyses.

Edit: I ran the tool and I have been waiting for 4 hours for it to say its at least processing. The results window says its running though.

[SteveLynch]

Aaron

I guess it all depends on the size of your input data, the size of the output and the speed of your computer.

I would suggest that you initially use a subset of your data.

You may also want to have a look at How large a DEM can the TopoToRaster tool create?


Steve

[aaronboci1]

The computer is the problem. I tried topo to raster on one sixth of the area I'm working on and I got an error saying the computer doesn't have enough memory to accomplish the task. 010005 Unable to allocate memory. So I have to go to a computer with some balls or split my data into a bunch of small parts, then reform them after. Ugh

[SteveLynch]

Misleading error message.
Your output raster is too big, make your cell size larger.

What version of ArcGIS are you running?
and, with the cell size that you are specifying do you know what size raster it'll create (i.e. how many rows, columns)?, use PolylineToRaster using the contours as input and then look at the properties of the output raster.

Steve

[aaronboci1]

10.1. I changed to computers with more power. I am getting error 010168. it keeps saying what I'm trying to create already exists but there is no file with the name. So I've tried it 3 times with a new name. And I have 2 meter contour data and I'm trying to keep it below 10 because I have 10M DEM but for what I'm doing, its not fine enough. That's why I'm trying to change my 2 meter contour into a DEM. The polyline to raster worked great but only for the cells that the polylines of the contours traveled through. All the other cells were given no data. I just want those cells to have data. I may do the polyline again but on a much larger scale and just overlay the values of the larger scale on the smaller but only for no data cells