Smooth and Simplify Lines

Description

Smooths and simplifies a line based on the selected method. This tool can be used to smooth and simplify lines generated from high resolution DEMs that tend to have many vertices that are angular in nature and are not cartographically pleasing. Different techniques implemented in this tool will generate different looking results. All techniques will maintain positional accuracy of the lines from and to nodes and will modify internal vertices only. If HydroID field exists in the input feature class, its values will NOT be updated in the out feature class. Note that resulting lines will not match the underlying DEM and flow direction from which they might have been derived.

Usage

Parameters

Direction	Type	Parameter Name	Data Type	Dialog Reference
Input	Required	Input Line	GPFeatureLayer	Input line polygon feature layer. If HydroID field exists in the feature class, its values will not be updated.
Input	Required	Smoothing Method	GPString	Options: Precise Smooth and Simplify: The input line is smoothed using the Polynomial Approximation with Exponential Kernel (PAEK) method and simplified using an algorithm that maintains the shape of the curve and allows control over the level of simplification. This method also provides the option of defining vertex spacing of the resulting vertices used to compose the line. If no vertex spacing is input, a smoothed line with a large number of vertices will be provided. This method is time intensive compared to other options, but provides the most control over the output line. Collapsed Buffer: A buffer is applied to the input line and then collapsed back into a line using the Collapse Hydro Polygon method, resulting in a smoothed line. The larger the buffer, the more smoothed the result. Remove Cutbacks: The input line has cutbacks <45 degrees removed using a combination of the Remove Cutbacks, Pairwise Integrate and Buffer tools. Remove Cutbacks, Smooth, and Simplify: The Remove Cutbacks method above is extended by smoothing and simplifying the resulting line using the PAEK and Retain Critical Points (Douglas-Peucker) algorithms, respectively. Coarse Smooth and Simplify: This is the default method. The input line is smoothed using the Polynomial Approximation with Exponential Kernel (PAEK) method and simplified using the Retain Critical Points (Douglas-Peucker) algorithm.
Input	Required	Smoothing Tolerance	GPLinearUnit	The smoothing tolerance used in the PAEK method. The smoothing tolerance must be greater than 0.
Input	Optional	Buffer Distance	GPLinearUnit	The distance around the input features that will be buffered. Distances are provided as a value representing a linear distance from the input features. In both "Precise Smooth and Simplify" and "Coarse Smooth and Simplify" methods, the buffer is used as a barrier for smoothing, meaning the lines will not touch or cross this buffer distance. In the Collapsed Buffer method the buffer controls the smoothing factor.
Input	Required	Thinning Factor	GPDouble	The percentage of vertices wanted to keep from the input line. The value is between 0 and 1, where, for example, 0.75 is equivalent to 75%.
Input	Required	Simplify Tolerance	GPLinearUnit	The tolerance is the maximum allowable perpendicular distance between each vertex and the newly created line.
Input	Optional	Vertex Spacing	GPLinearUnit	The distance between adjacent vertices composing the line.
Output	Required	Output Line Feature Class	GPFeatureLayer	Output line feature layer.