VectorField

Summary

Visualizes flow direction and magnitude information in a raster with vector symbols.

Discussion

For more information about how this function works, see the Vector Field raster function.

The referenced raster dataset for the raster object is temporary. To make it permanent, you can call the raster object's save method.

Syntax

VectorField(raster_u_mag, raster_v_dir, {input_data_type}, {angle_reference_system}, {output_data_type})

Parameter	Explanation	Data Type
raster_u_mag	The first input raster, which is either the U value or the magnitude.	Raster
raster_v_dir	The second input raster, which is either the V value or the direction.	Raster
input_data_type	The type of vector field your inputs represent. Unknown—It is unknown whether the inputs represent U-V or Magnitude-Direction. Vector-UV—Input data represents U and V components. Vector-MagDir—Input data represents magnitude and direction. The default value is Vector-UV.	String
angle_reference_system	Specifies how the direction component was measured. Geographic—0° points due north, and 90° points due east. Arithmetic—0° points due east, and 90° points due north. The default value is Geographic.	String
output_data_type	Specifies the type of vector field your output will represent. Vector-UV—Output data represents U and V components. Vector-MagDir—Output data represents magnitude and direction. The default value is Vector-UV.	String

Return value

Data Type	Explanation
Raster	The output raster.

Code sample

VectorField example 1

This example creates a vector field for a multidimensional dataset.

from arcpy.ia import *
out_vectorfield_raster = VectorField("magnitude", "direction", "Vector-MagDir",
                                 None, "Vector-UV")
out_vectorfield_raster.save("C:/arcpyExamples/outputs/vector_field_UV.crf")

VectorField example 2

This example creates a vector field for a multidimensional dataset.

# Import system modules
import arcpy
from arcpy.ia import *

# Set the analysis environments
arcpy.env.workspace = "C:/arcpyExamples/data"

# Set the local variables
# create a multidimensional raster object from hycom.nc that
# contains 2 variables water_u and water_v
hycom_raster = arcpy.Raster("C:/data/hycom.nc", True)

# choose the 2 variables from hycom_raster as 2 multidimensional raster
in_raster_u_mag = Subset(hycom_raster, variables = "water_u")
in_raster_v_dir = Subset(hycom_raster, variables = "water_v")

# Run VectorField function
out_vectorField_raster = VectorField(in_raster_u_mag, in_raster_v_dir,
                                     "Vector-UV", "Geographic", "Vector-MagDir")

# Save the output
out_vectorField_raster.save("C:/arcpyExamples/vector_field_magdir.crf")