ArcPy DEM Processing Project

A geospatial analysis pipeline for processing Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data and satellite imagery using ArcGIS Pro's ArcPy library. This project demonstrates terrain analysis techniques applied to the Mount Fuji region in Japan.

Overview

This project processes raw elevation data and multi-band satellite imagery to generate:

• Elevation contour maps at 100-meter intervals
• Multi-band composite imagery from satellite data
• Clipped raster outputs bounded to a study area
• 3D mesh-ready outputs for terrain visualization

Features

• Polygon-to-raster conversion with boundary cleaning
• DEM clipping using vector extent boundaries
• Automated contour generation from elevation data
• Multi-band satellite image compositing (bands 2, 3, 4)
• Raster processing for 3D mesh generation

Requirements

• ArcGIS Pro with Spatial Analyst extension
• Python 3.x (via ArcGIS Pro's Python environment)
• arcpy module

Data Requirements

This project requires the following input data (not included due to file size):

File	Description	Source
gt30e100n40.tif	GTOPO30 DEM tile (30 arc-second resolution)	USGS Earth Explorer
FujiArea.shp	Study area boundary shapefile	Create manually or obtain from administrative boundary data
jband2.tif, jband3.tif, jband4.tif	Satellite imagery bands	USGS Earth Explorer (Landsat)

Project Structure

├── dem_processor.py      # Main processing script
├── FujiArea.shp          # Study area boundary (+ associated files)
├── gt30e100n40.tif       # Input DEM
├── jband*.tif            # Satellite imagery bands
└── output/               # Generated outputs
    ├── FujiBounds.tif    # Rasterized boundary
    ├── FujiRaster.tif    # Clipped DEM
    ├── FujiRasterCon.shp # Contour lines
    ├── fujiStack.tif     # Composite satellite imagery
    ├── fujiStackClip.tif # Clipped composite
    └── oneBandMesh.tif   # Single-band mesh output

Usage

1. Set up workspace: Update the workspace variable in dem_processor.py to match your directory path.

2. Place input data: Ensure all required input files are in the workspace directory.

3. Run the script:

   # From ArcGIS Pro Python environment
   python dem_processor.py

4. Outputs: Processed files will be saved to the output/ directory.

Processing Pipeline

Input DEM ─────────────┐
                       ├──> Clip DEM ──> Generate Contours
Study Area Boundary ───┴──> Polygon to Raster ──> Boundary Clean
                                    │
Satellite Bands (2,3,4) ──> Composite Bands ──> Clip to Boundary ──> 3D Mesh Output

Output Specifications

Output	Format	Description
FujiRaster.tif	GeoTIFF (16-bit)	Clipped elevation data
FujiRasterCon.shp	Shapefile	100m contour polylines
fujiStackClip.tif	GeoTIFF (3-band)	RGB satellite composite
oneBandMesh.tif	GeoTIFF	Flattened image for 3D modeling

Coordinate System

• Input CRS: GCS_ITRF_1994 / WGS 1984
• Extent: 138.5°E - 139.0°E, 34.9°N - 35.6°N

Author

Dexter Ferguson

License

This project is available for educational and portfolio purposes.