Smooth Polygon (Data Management) (ArcInfo only)

Usage tips

• The Polynomial Approximation with Exponential Kernel (PAEK) algorithm produces smoothed polygons; each may have more vertices than its source line. The tolerance you specify is the length of a "moving" path used in calculating the new vertices. The longer the length, the more smoothed the polygon. A small tolerance will result in a long processing time, so begin with a relatively large tolerance and a small number of features.

• The BEZIER_INTERPOLATION algorithm does not require any tolerance. If you are using the command line or scripting, you still need to enter zero in place of the smooth_tolerance.

• When BEZIER_INTERPOLATION is used for shapefile output, it will produce shapes very close to Bezier curves, since a shapefile cannot store true Bezier curves.

• Both algorithms may introduce topological errors, such as line crossing or overlapping, in the results. If you are not concerned about the topological errors, use the default NO_CHECK option. If you want to know about the errors, use the FLAG_ERRORS option. The FLAG_ERRORS option preserves shared polygon boundaries and detects topological errors possibly introduced by smoothing. The polygon output will contain two new fields, InPoly_FID and SmoPlyFlag. The InPoly_FID field carries the feature IDs of the input polygons; the SmoPlyFlag field flags polygons with a value of 1, indicating topological errors, or a value of 0, indicating no errors.

• The two algorithms used in this tool are the same as those used in the Smooth Line tool. See "related topics" above.

• Invalid (self-intersecting) geometry may be created during the smoothing process and will be repaired. For example, if a polygon crosses itself, the polygon will be repaired to become a multiple-part polygon such that no part crosses any other part, although the polygon will still look self-crossing.

• The FLAG_ERRORS option of this tool is not supported in an edit session.

• Learn more about spatial reference and geoprocessing.

• The following environment settings affect this tool: XY tolerance, Extent, M domain, Coordinate system, Output has M values, Output has Z values, Default Z value, Output XY domain, workspace, and scratch workspace.

Command line syntax
An overview of the Command Line window
SmoothPolygon_management <in_features> <out_feature_class> <PAEK | BEZIER_INTERPOLATION> <tolerance> {FIXED_ENDPOINT | NOT_FIXED} {NO_CHECK | FLAG_ERRORS}

Command line example

smoothpolygon wetlands smoothed_wetlands BEZIER_INTERPOLATION 0.0

Scripting syntax
About getting started with writing geoprocessing scripts
SmoothPolygon_management (in_features, out_feature_class, algorithm, tolerance, endpoint_option, error_option)

Script example

# Simplifying soil polygons followed by smoothing

import arcgisscripting
gp = arcgisscripting.create()

# Set the workspace
gp.workspace = "d:/data/mapDB.mdb/soils"

# Simplifying soil polygons followed by smoothing
gp.simplifypolygon("soilpolys", "soilpolys_simplified", "BEND_SIMPLIFY", "80", "RESOLVE_ERRORS")
gp.smoothpolygon("soilpolys_simplified", "soilpolys_smoothed", "PAEK", "150", "FLAG_ERRORS")