Radial Basis Functions (Geostatistical Analyst)

ArcGIS Pro 3.4 | | Help archive

Available with Geostatistical Analyst license.

Summary

Uses one of five basis functions to interpolate a surfaces that passes through the input points exactly.

Learn more about how radial basis functions work

Usage

  • The smooth search neighborhood is only available for the Inverse multiquadric function.

  • For all methods except the Inverse multiquadric function, the higher the parameter value, the smoother the surface. The opposite is true for the Inverse multiquadric function.

Parameters

LabelExplanationData Type
Input features

The input point features containing the z-values to be interpolated.

Feature Layer
Z value field

Field that holds a height or magnitude value for each point. This can be a numeric field or the Shape field if the input features contain z-values or m-values.

Field
Output geostatistical layer
(Optional)

The geostatistical layer produced. This layer is required output only if no output raster is requested.

Geostatistical Layer
Output raster
(Optional)

The output raster. This raster is required output only if no output geostatistical layer is requested.

Raster Dataset
Output cell size
(Optional)

The cell size at which the output raster will be created.

This value can be explicitly set in the Environments by the Cell Size parameter.

If not set, it is the shorter of the width or the height of the extent of the input point features, in the input spatial reference, divided by 250.

Analysis Cell Size
Search neighborhood
(Optional)

Defines which surrounding points will be used to control the output. Standard is the default.

Standard

  • Major semiaxis—The major semiaxis value of the searching neighborhood.
  • Minor semiaxis—The minor semiaxis value of the searching neighborhood.
  • Angle—The angle of rotation for the axis (circle) or semimajor axis (ellipse) of the moving window.
  • Max neighbors—The maximum number of neighbors that will be used to estimate the value at the unknown location.
  • Min neighbors—The minimum number of neighbors that will be used to estimate the value at the unknown location.
  • Sector Type—The geometry of the neighborhood.
    • One sector—Single ellipse.
    • Four sectors—Ellipse divided into four sectors.
    • Four sectors shifted—Ellipse divided into four sectors and shifted 45 degrees.
    • Eight sectors—Ellipse divided into eight sectors.

Standard Circular

  • Radius—The length of the radius of the search circle.
  • Angle—The angle of rotation for the axis (circle) or semimajor axis (ellipse) of the moving window.
  • Max neighbors—The maximum number of neighbors that will be used to estimate the value at the unknown location.
  • Min neighbors—The minimum number of neighbors that will be used to estimate the value at the unknown location.
  • Sector Type—The geometry of the neighborhood.
    • One sector—Single ellipse.
    • Four sectors—Ellipse divided into four sectors.
    • Four sectors shifted—Ellipse divided into four sectors and shifted 45 degrees.
    • Eight sectors—Ellipse divided into eight sectors.
Geostatistical Search Neighborhood
Radial basis function
(Optional)

There are five radial basis functions available.

  • Thin plate splineThin-plate spline function
  • Spline with tension Spline with tension function
  • Completely regularized spline Completely regularized spline function
  • Multiquadric Multiquadric spline function
  • Inverse multiquadricInverse multiquadric spline function
String
Small scale parameter
(Optional)

Used to calculate the weights assigned to the points located in the moving window. Each of the radial basis functions has a parameter that controls the degree of small-scale variation of the surface. The (optimal) parameter is determined by finding the value that minimizes the root mean square prediction error (RMSPE).

Double

Licensing information

  • Basic: Requires Geostatistical Analyst
  • Standard: Requires Geostatistical Analyst
  • Advanced: Requires Geostatistical Analyst

Related topics