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View scene elevation profile

The Elevation Profile tool Elevation profile tool allows you to generate an elevation profile along a line. You can create an elevation profile the following ways:

Create a profile by drawing a line

You can draw a line over the terrain, buildings, integrated mesh, and features with 3D styles to view their elevation profiles.

To draw a line and generate a profile, do the following:

  1. Click Analyze Analyze to open the analyze tools.
  2. Click the Elevation Profile tool Elevation profile tool.
  3. In the scene, click to start a line and continue clicking to create additional segments.
  4. Double-click or click Done to finish drawing the line.

    The Elevation Profile tool displays an elevation profile chart with statistics. You can interact with the chart to display more information.

  5. If necessary, you can move or edit the line horizontally with the handles, and the elevation profile chart dynamically changes.
    • Drag the large orange disc to move the line.
    • Drag the line handles to move individual vertices or create vertices in the center of segments.
  6. Click New Profile to draw a new line.

Create a profile by selecting a line

You can view the elevation profiles of existing lines with 2D or 3D styles in your scene.

To generate a profile of an existing line, do the following:

  1. Click Analyze Analyze to open the analyze tools.
  2. Click the Elevation Profile tool Elevation profile tool.
  3. Click Select Line.
  4. In the scene, click an existing line to select it and generate elevation profiles.

    The Elevation Profile tool displays an elevation profile chart with statistics. You can interact with the chart to display more information.

View elevation profiles

The Elevation Profile tool Elevation profile tool displays elevation information for the drawn or selected line.

The chart displays the following types of elevation profiles:

Ground

The elevation profile of the ground or terrain.

Layers

The elevation profile of 3D objects that are visible in the current scene view. This includes buildings, integrated mesh, and features with 3D styles. Point cloud scene layers do not generate an elevation profile.

Line

The elevation profile of the selected line.

Check or uncheck the check boxes to customize which elevation profiles to display.

Note:

Whether a profile type generates elevation depends on the nature of the line you draw or select. In the image below, the selected line additionally crosses 3D objects, so elevation is calculated for all three types.

  • The Ground profile is always generated if there is elevation where you draw the line.
  • When you draw a line, the Line profile is automatically disabled.

The following image is an example of the display when you hover over the chart:

Elevation profile chart displaying Ground, Layers, and Line elevation
Elevation profile chart displaying Ground, Layers, and Line elevation

1

Elevation for the available profile types.

2

Horizontal distance from the start of the line.

Elevation statistics

Click the expand button Expand for each profile type to expand and display statistics.

Length

Length of line

Gain

Total ascent

Loss

Total descent

Min

Minimum elevation of line

Max

Maximum elevation of line

Avg

Average elevation of line

Max Slope

Steepest slope ascending/Steepest slope descending

Avg Slope

Average slope ascending/Average slope descending

Note:

Slopes are calculated by sampling over a distance of 10 meters or more.

Change the unit

To change the unit, click the Settings buttonSettingsand click the Units drop-down menu.