An overview of the Reclass toolset

Available with Spatial Analyst license.

Available with 3D Analyst license.

The Reclass tools provide a variety of methods that allow you to reclassify or change input cell values to alternative values.

The most common reasons for reclassifying data are to accomplish the following:

  • Replace values based on new information.
  • Group certain values.
  • Reclassify values to a common scale (for example, for use in a suitability analysis or for creating a cost raster for use in the Distance Accumulation tool).
  • Set specific values to NoData or set NoData cells to a value.

There are several approaches to reclassifying data. The methods of reclassification and the tools that perform them are as follows:

  • Individual values. (Lookup, Reclassify)
  • Ranges of values. (Reclass by ASCII File, Reclass by Table, Reclassify)
  • Intervals. (Slice)
  • Continuous values using functions. (Rescale by Function)

The following topics provide background information on the theoretical aspects of the tools as well as some examples of their implementation:

The following table lists the available tools and provides a brief description of each.

ToolDescription

Lookup

Creates a raster by looking up values in another field in the table of the input raster.

Reclass by ASCII File

Reclassifies (or changes) the values of the input cells of a raster using an ASCII remap file.

Reclass by Table

Reclassifies (or changes) the values of the input cells of a raster using a remap table.

Reclassify

Reclassifies (or changes) the values in a raster.

Rescale by Function

Rescales the input raster values by applying a selected transformation function and transforming the resulting values onto a specified continuous evaluation scale.

Slice

Slices or reclassifies the range of values of the input cells into zones (classes). The available data classification methods are equal interval, equal area (quantile), natural breaks, standard deviation (mean-centered), standard deviation (mean as a break), defined interval, and geometric interval.

Tools of the Reclass toolset

Related topics