Feature Description

Calculates raster surface distance, i.e., measures the 3D surface distance along specified lines or polylines on a raster dataset-fitted surface. The distance measured by surface measurement reflects the actual terrain surface, which is longer than planar distance.

The application provides two calculation methods: 1) Measuring drawn line objects; 2) Directly selecting one or multiple line features from other datasets to calculate cumulative surface distance.

Steps

Surface Distance

The Output Window prompts: "Draw a line/polyline on the map and right-click to analyze", with the cursor switching to drawing mode.

1. Open the target raster dataset in the map. Note: This function requires at least one open raster dataset in the current workspace.
2. Navigate to Spatial Analysis Tab -> Raster Analysis -> Surface Analysis -> Surface Distance.
3. Draw a line/polyline on the map and right-click to complete the operation.
4. The application displays the measured surface distance in both the map and Output Window (default unit: meters). Press Esc to clear temporary lines.

Selected Line Distance

1. With both raster data and line datasets open in the map, select one or multiple line features (hold Shift for multi-selection).
2. Go to Spatial Analysis Tab -> Raster Analysis -> Surface Analysis -> Selected Line Distance to perform measurement.
3. The application displays the total surface distance in both the map and Output Window.

Alternative workflow:

1. Click Selected Line Distance under Surface Analysis. The map prompts: "Select one or multiple line features for surface measurement, right-click to finish selection".
2. Select line feature(s) (hold Shift for multi-selection) and right-click to confirm.
3. The application displays the cumulative surface distance measurement.