A grid surface comprises points that lie on a regular grid.
You can create a grid surface or import it from a DEM file.
- Mapping more uniform surfaces with evenly distributed sample data
- Examining large study areas (small-scale maps)
Grid surfaces generally load quickly and require less disk space than TIN surfaces.
- Click Home tab
Create Ground Data panelSurfaces drop-downCreate Surface
.At the Command prompt, enter CreateSurface. In the Create Surface dialog box, in the Type list, select Grid Surface.
- Click
to select a layer. For more information about layers, see Object Layer Dialog Box.
- In the properties grid, click the Value column for the Name property and enter a name for the surface.
Note
To name the surface, click its default name and enter a new name, or use the name template. See Name Template Dialog Box.
- To change the style for the surface, click the Style property in the properties grid and click
in Value column. The Select Surface Style dialog box is displayed. See Surface Styles and Display.
- To change the render material for the surface, click the Render Material property in the properties grid and click in the Value column.
The Select Render Material dialog box is displayed. See Assigning Render Materials to Objects
- Set the Grid Parameters, such as spacing and orientation. Enter their values or click
to use the drawing area to derive these values. - Click OK to create the surface.
After the surface is created, the surface name is displayed in the Surfaces collection in the Prospector tree, so that you can perform other operations, such as adding data and editing the surface.
For information about adding data to the surface, see Adding and Editing Surface Data.