{"id":2819582,"date":"2025-06-10T03:00:48","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T10:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=2819582"},"modified":"2025-06-10T10:41:32","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T17:41:32","slug":"use-the-feature-preserving-smoothing-tool-on-elevation-surfaces","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/spatial-analyst\/analytics\/use-the-feature-preserving-smoothing-tool-on-elevation-surfaces","title":{"rendered":"Use the Feature Preserving Smoothing tool on elevation surfaces"},"author":5751,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":""},"categories":[23341],"tags":[779602,759062,24401],"industry":[],"product":[36561,37031],"class_list":["post-2819582","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-analytics","tag-smooth","tag-surface","tag-terrain","product-arcgis-pro","product-spatial-analyst"],"acf":{"authors":[{"ID":5751,"user_firstname":"Xuguang","user_lastname":"Wang","nickname":"Xuguang Wang","user_nicename":"waxg","display_name":"Xuguang Wang","user_email":"xuguang_wang@esri.com","user_url":"","user_registered":"2018-03-02 00:17:35","user_description":"Xuguang is a Product Engineer in the Spatial Analysis and Data Science team. He works with colleagues to design, develop and maintain geoprocessing tools with a focus in Raster Analysis.","user_avatar":"<img data-del=\"avatar\" src='https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2018\/07\/xgpic-1.jpg' class='avatar pp-user-avatar avatar-96 photo ' height='96' width='96'\/>"}],"short_description":"This blog introduces the Feature Preserving Smoothing tool in ArcGIS Pro and how to use it to smooth elevation surfaces. ","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">With the ever-increasing availability of digital elevation model (DEM) data, and its resolution becoming finer and finer, some data can become overly detailed for the phenomena we are trying to model. For example, classifying a fine-resolution DEM raster (1-meter or less in cell size) into landforms can lead to small bumps being identified as peaks. In this case, such small features on the ground are typically more detailed than we need. One of the common workarounds to this has been to resample the DEM to a larger cell size as a preprocessing step. However, resampling can also reduce the fidelity of the data or introduce artifacts. Is there another way to deal with this?<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Introducing at ArcGIS Pro 3.4 and ArcGIS Enterprise 11.4, the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pro.arcgis.com\/en\/pro-app\/latest\/tool-reference\/spatial-analyst\/feature-preserving-smoothing.htm\">Feature Preserving Smoothing<\/a> (Spatial Analyst) tool allows you to remove small fluctuations and noise on an elevation surface while preserving the structure of landscape features. The original ideas behind this tool were conceived and developed in consultation with John Lindsay and first appeared in his Whitebox software. Other benefits of the tool include:<span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"5\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"2\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Parameters are available to set the neighborhood size, as well as the maximum curvature and height changes allowed during the smoothing process.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"5\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"3\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">While the tool runs fast on most elevation surface data, it is also capable of taking advantage of a GPU device if one is available on your computer.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li data-leveltext=\"\uf0b7\" data-font=\"Symbol\" data-listid=\"5\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:720,&quot;335559991&quot;:360,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Symbol&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\uf0b7&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"4\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">While in most cases you can run the tool by just specifying the input and output parameters and accepting the other parameters as default, it can also be run in an iterative mode. This allows you to easily tweak the parameter values to arrive at the desired outcome.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">How does it work? The tool views the input surface as a landscape with features such as mountains and valleys, or small bumps and sink holes. Each feature has a size and height, with edges of a certain curvature. The algorithm then makes small adjustments to the curvature and height of features to achieve the desired degree of smoothness.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Neighborhood distance and distance units\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Neighborhood Distance<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> parameter is used to set the moving window size of the smoothing kernel. It is defined as a radius measuring from the center of the neighborhood to the orthogonal edge of the neighborhood. The <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Distance Units<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> parameter allows you to specify the units in which the neighborhood distance is measured. The <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Cells <\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">option allows the neighborhood distance to be measured using the number of cells, while the rest of the options allow it to be measured using a linear unit.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">There is no need to specify a large neighborhood distance value. A small value (such as the default value, 5 cells) ensures the algorithm focuses more on local variability and only smooths away noise-like features. If you want to increase the output smoothness, tweak the <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Normal Difference Threshold<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> and <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Maximum Elevation Change<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> parameters as explained below.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Curvature preservation\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Normal Difference Threshold<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> parameter sets the level of curvature preservation during the smoothing process. The smaller the value, the fewer changes will be made to the curvatures on the DEM, and the better the feature edges will be preserved.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">With a higher <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Normal Difference Threshold<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> setting, typically the output appears smoother because more edges are smoothed away. For example, the images below show the effect of this parameter on the output. From left to right, the first image is the original DEM (with 1-meter resolution), the second image shows the output with a <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Normal Difference Threshold<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> value of 5 degrees, and the third image shows the output with the value set to 30 degrees.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2819632,"id":2819632,"title":"curvature_preservaion","filename":"curvature_preservaion-2.png","filesize":53456,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/curvature_preservaion-2.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/spatial-analyst\/analytics\/use-the-feature-preserving-smoothing-tool-on-elevation-surfaces\/curvature_preservaion-3","alt":"","author":"5751","description":"","caption":"","name":"curvature_preservaion-3","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2819582,"date":"2025-06-04 01:27:38","modified":"2025-06-04 01:27:38","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":610,"height":218,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/curvature_preservaion-2-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/curvature_preservaion-2.png","medium-width":464,"medium-height":166,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/curvature_preservaion-2.png","medium_large-width":610,"medium_large-height":218,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/curvature_preservaion-2.png","large-width":610,"large-height":218,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/curvature_preservaion-2.png","1536x1536-width":610,"1536x1536-height":218,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/curvature_preservaion-2.png","2048x2048-width":610,"2048x2048-height":218,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/curvature_preservaion-2.png","card_image-width":610,"card_image-height":218,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/curvature_preservaion-2.png","wide_image-width":610,"wide_image-height":218}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">While the valid value range for this parameter is between \u2013180 and 180 degrees, a small value (such as the default value, 15 degrees) should be used in most cases to ensure the preservation of feature edges.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-contrast=\"none\">Height preservation<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134245418&quot;:true,&quot;134245529&quot;:true,&quot;335559738&quot;:160,&quot;335559739&quot;:80}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Maximum Elevation Change<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> parameter defines a threshold for the allowed maximum height change at any cell location. Features with heights above this threshold will be preserved. Features with heights below this threshold can potentially be smoothed away. You can adjust this parameter to control the level of height change that the smoothing process will handle.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">With a higher <\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Maximum Elevation Change<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> setting, typically the output appears smoother because the height changes are more significant. For example, the images below show the effect of this parameter on the output. From left to right, the first image is the original DEM (with 1-meter resolution), the second image shows the output with the parameter set to a value of 0.05 meters, and the third image shows the output with it set to 1.0 meters.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2819622,"id":2819622,"title":"maximum_elevation_change","filename":"maximum_elevation_change-1.png","filesize":54151,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/maximum_elevation_change-1.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/spatial-analyst\/analytics\/use-the-feature-preserving-smoothing-tool-on-elevation-surfaces\/maximum_elevation_change-2","alt":"","author":"5751","description":"","caption":"","name":"maximum_elevation_change-2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2819582,"date":"2025-06-04 01:27:22","modified":"2025-06-04 01:27:22","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":611,"height":210,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/maximum_elevation_change-1-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/maximum_elevation_change-1.png","medium-width":464,"medium-height":159,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/maximum_elevation_change-1.png","medium_large-width":611,"medium_large-height":210,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/maximum_elevation_change-1.png","large-width":611,"large-height":210,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/maximum_elevation_change-1.png","1536x1536-width":611,"1536x1536-height":210,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/maximum_elevation_change-1.png","2048x2048-width":611,"2048x2048-height":210,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/maximum_elevation_change-1.png","card_image-width":611,"card_image-height":210,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/maximum_elevation_change-1.png","wide_image-width":611,"wide_image-height":210}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<h3><span data-contrast=\"none\">Examples<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134245418&quot;:true,&quot;134245529&quot;:true,&quot;335559738&quot;:160,&quot;335559739&quot;:80}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Since the small fluctuations have been removed, the output raster will typically look smoother than the input raster. To view the effectiveness of the smoothing process, create hillshades for the before and after rasters, then compare them. The images below are an example created using a 1-meter resolution DEM.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2819652,"id":2819652,"title":"example_dem_hillshades","filename":"example_dem_hillshades.png","filesize":100583,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/example_dem_hillshades.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/spatial-analyst\/analytics\/use-the-feature-preserving-smoothing-tool-on-elevation-surfaces\/example_dem_hillshades","alt":"","author":"5751","description":"","caption":"","name":"example_dem_hillshades","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2819582,"date":"2025-06-04 01:30:09","modified":"2025-06-04 01:30:09","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":687,"height":256,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/example_dem_hillshades-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/example_dem_hillshades.png","medium-width":464,"medium-height":173,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/example_dem_hillshades.png","medium_large-width":687,"medium_large-height":256,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/example_dem_hillshades.png","large-width":687,"large-height":256,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/example_dem_hillshades.png","1536x1536-width":687,"1536x1536-height":256,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/example_dem_hillshades.png","2048x2048-width":687,"2048x2048-height":256,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/example_dem_hillshades.png","card_image-width":687,"card_image-height":256,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/example_dem_hillshades.png","wide_image-width":687,"wide_image-height":256}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p><span class=\"TextRun SCXW161589780 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"auto\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW161589780 BCX0\">The <\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW161589780 BCX0\">output<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW161589780 BCX0\"> raster can also be used in a <\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW161589780 BCX0\">subsequent<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW161589780 BCX0\"> tool to increase the<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW161589780 BCX0\"> output<\/span> <span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW161589780 BCX0\">smoothness. The following images show the outputs from the <\/span><\/span><a class=\"Hyperlink SCXW161589780 BCX0\" href=\"https:\/\/pro.arcgis.com\/en\/pro-app\/latest\/tool-reference\/spatial-analyst\/geomorphon-landforms.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><span class=\"TextRun Underlined SCXW161589780 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW161589780 BCX0\" data-ccp-charstyle=\"Hyperlink\">Geomorphon Landforms<\/span><\/span><\/a><span class=\"TextRun SCXW161589780 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"auto\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW161589780 BCX0\"> tool using the original DEM and the p<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW161589780 BCX0\">rocessed<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW161589780 BCX0\"> DEM, respectively<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW161589780 BCX0\">.<\/span><\/span><span class=\"EOP SCXW161589780 BCX0\" data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2819662,"id":2819662,"title":"example_landform_classifications","filename":"example_landform_classifications.png","filesize":45295,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/example_landform_classifications.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/spatial-analyst\/analytics\/use-the-feature-preserving-smoothing-tool-on-elevation-surfaces\/example_landform_classifications","alt":"","author":"5751","description":"","caption":"","name":"example_landform_classifications","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2819582,"date":"2025-06-04 01:31:08","modified":"2025-06-04 01:31:08","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":781,"height":254,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/example_landform_classifications-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/example_landform_classifications.png","medium-width":464,"medium-height":151,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/example_landform_classifications.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":250,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/example_landform_classifications.png","large-width":781,"large-height":254,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/example_landform_classifications.png","1536x1536-width":781,"1536x1536-height":254,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/example_landform_classifications.png","2048x2048-width":781,"2048x2048-height":254,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/example_landform_classifications.png","card_image-width":781,"card_image-height":254,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/06\/example_landform_classifications.png","wide_image-width":781,"wide_image-height":254}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p>The above examples illustrate the applications of the tool in surface analysis. This tool is also particularly useful as a preprocessing step for elevation derived hydrography workflows using high resolution DEMs.<\/p>\n<h3><span data-contrast=\"none\">Learn more\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134245418&quot;:true,&quot;134245529&quot;:true,&quot;335559738&quot;:160,&quot;335559739&quot;:80}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">To learn more about the Feature Preserving Smoothing tool, see <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pro.arcgis.com\/en\/pro-app\/latest\/tool-reference\/spatial-analyst\/how-feature-preserving-smoothing-works.htm\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">How Feature Preserving Smoothing works<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n"}],"related_articles":[{"ID":1881242,"post_author":"246232","post_date":"2023-03-22 09:00:42","post_date_gmt":"2023-03-22 16:00:42","post_content":"","post_title":"Classify terrain with the new Geomorphon Landforms 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