Calculate Missing Z Values (3D Analyst)—ArcGIS Pro

Summary

Creates features that update the z-values of 3D line or polygon vertices with placeholder values that represent missing z-value information.

While z-enabled features will always have a z-value for each vertex, a specific value may represent a placeholder for an unknown z-value. This tool assigns a z-value for those vertices by deriving it from the z-value information of other vertices in the same feature. For line features, the computed z-value can be obtained by interpolation or extrapolation; for polygon features, this value is acquired through interpolation.
Each feature class has a default z-value assigned at the time of its creation. This default value can be controlled by setting the Default Output Z Value environment at the time of the feature class's creation. The default value will be 0 when nothing has been specified, but this may cause confusion if 0 is within the range of expected z-value information. To prevent confusion, consider assigning a uniquely identifiable default that is outside the expected range of z-coordinates in the data, such as -9999.

Label	Explanation	Data Type
Input 3D Features	The 3D line or polygon features with missing z-values.	Feature Layer
Output Features	The output features whose placeholder z-values will be updated.	Feature Class
Placeholder Value	The z-value that represents missing or unknown information in the feature's geometry.	Double

arcpy.ddd.CalculateMissingZValues(in_features, out_feature_class, placeholder)

Name	Explanation	Data Type
in_features	The 3D line or polygon features with missing z-values.	Feature Layer
out_feature_class	The output features whose placeholder z-values will be updated.	Feature Class
placeholder	The z-value that represents missing or unknown information in the feature's geometry.	Double

CalculateMissingZValues example (Python window)

The following sample demonstrates the use of this tool in the Python window:

import arcpy
arcpy.env.workspace = "C:/data"
arcpy.ddd.CalculateMissingZValues("Parks.gdb/hiking_trails", "Parks.gdb/hiking_trails_updatedZ", -9999)