Converting Vector Features to Rasters
Included in this tutorial:
Accessing the Feature to Raster tool
Review of the tool’s parameters and options
Running the tool and examining results, with an example
Software version in examples:
Tutorial Data: The tutorial includes demonstration with sample data available here.
Credits: L. Meisterlin and Varisa Tanti (2022)
This tutorial demonstrates accessing and using the Feature to Raster tool in ArcGIS Pro which produces a new raster layer from an input vector feature class.
The tutorial includes an example: rasterizing a polygon feature class using values in its attribute table.
Accessing the Feature to Raster Tool
You can access the Feature to Raster tool by clicking the Geoprocessing toolbox in the main ribbon, and clicking through Conversion Tools > To Raster > Feature to Raster. You can also search for “Feature to raster” in the geoprocessing search bar.
The path to opening the Feature to Raster tool is Geoprocessing Tools > Conversion Tools > To Raster > Feature to Raster.
Feature to Raster Tool Dialogue Box
In the Feature to Raster dialogue box, you will see these fields: input features, field, output raster, and output cell size.
the Feature to Raster geoprocessing tool
Here’s a brief description of the different inputs:
Input features: The input feature layer to be converted to a raster dataset. The options available in the drop down are the vector layers in your current map project. You can also browse for other feature classes by clicking the yellow folder icon.
Field: Select the field within the input’s attribute table that will serve as the basis for the output raster’s cell value. (Only numeric fields in the attribute table will be listed.)
In our example, the field is a numeric value with a double data type. (The field represents the polygons’ perimeter length. We expect output raster’s cells within the larger polygons to have higher values.)
Output raster: The location and name of the output raster. If this is not a geodatabase raster, then you must specify the file type extension (e.g., .tif, .jpg).
Output cell size: Specify the cell size of the output raster in the units of the input feature class’s CRS. Note: the CRS of the output raster will be the same as the input feature class.
To execute the tool, click Run.
Examining the Results
The results of the example above are shown below. Notice that, as expected, the cells within the larger input polygons have higher values.
Importantly, note that the raster layer is indeed rectangular. The cells beyond the boundaries of the input polygon features have no values (NoData or null).
the example’s resulting raster