The Create buffers tool creates polygons that cover a given distance from a point, polyline, or polygon geometry.
Examples
The Create buffers tool can be used in scenarios such as the following:
- Create study areas around point features of interest.
- Create polygons that represent the area of influence for specific incidents or planning efforts.
Parameters
The following table outlines the parameters used in the Create buffers tool:
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
Input dataset | The dataset containing the geometry field that will be buffered. |
Geometry field | The geometry field that will be buffered. |
Distance type | The type of distance that will be used. You can specify a distance value, or use the values from a numeric field. |
Distance value | The distance value to buffer the input geometries. |
Distance field | The numeric field containing one buffer distance per geometry. |
Distance unit | The units of the buffer distance. |
Buffer method | The method that will be used to create the buffers. |
Usage notes
Use the Input dataset parameter to identify the dataset that you want to buffer. The Geometry field parameter specifies the geometries to buffer.
The Distance type parameter determines how the buffer distances will be specified. The options are as follows:
- Value—A constant buffer size will be applied to every input geometry. Choose this option to create buffers with a uniform distance for all geometries.
- Field—The buffer size will be determined by the value in the selected field. Choose this option to vary the buffer distance between records.
Distance value is the distance around each geometry that will be buffered. This parameter is only available when Value is chosen for Distance type.
Distance field is the field in the input dataset that contains the buffer distances. This parameter is only available if Field is chosen for Distance type.
Distance unit specifies the units that will be used for the buffer distance. Supported units are meters, kilometers, feet, yards, miles, and nautical miles.
Buffer method specifies the method that will be used to create the buffers. The options are as follows:
- Geodesic—Buffers will be created using a shape-preserving geodesic buffer method regardless of the coordinate system of the input geometries. This is the default.
- Planar—Buffers will be created using the Euclidean distance. This method is only supported for projected coordinate systems. This method may be more performant, but results will less accurately match the shape of the input geometries compared to the geodesic method.
Outputs
The tool output will contain the same fields as the input dataset. The geometry field specified in the Geometry field parameter will be returned with a type of polygon and will contain the buffered results.
Licensing requirements
The following licensing and configurations are required:
- Creator or Professional user type
- Publisher, Facilitator, or Administrator role, or an equivalent custom role
To learn more about Data Pipelines requirements, see Requirements.