I'm using ArcMap to draw polygons around some geologic features. I want to know the length of the semi major and semi minor axes of the smallest ellipse that would fit around the polygons.
I'm a new Arc user, so it's possible that there's a simple way to do this, but not that I've yet found. Maybe the buffer tool could do the trick, but I'm not sure how.
You could refer to Esri's documentation Creating an ellipse feature
The Ellipse tool is used to create ellipse features.
These steps can be used to create lines or polygons:
- To create lines, click a line feature template in the Create Features window.
- To create polygons, click a polygon feature template in the Create Features window.
Click the Ellipse construction tool Ellipse on the Create Features window.
- Click to place the center of the ellipse, then drag.
- Click to set the major or minor radius, then drag.
- You can also right-click or use keyboard shortcuts to enter x,y coordinates, set a direction angle, choose whether the ellipse is constructed from the center or an endpoint, or enter a major or minor radius. The radius is given in map units by default, but you can give the value in other units by specifying a distance units abbreviation with the value that you enter. Click once to finish the ellipse.
Alternatively, you may try as this user Make a minimum bound ellipse? suggests, you would need an extension via ArcMap
the spatial statistics tool "Directional Distribution (Standard Deviational Ellipse)" may help
To add from my comments:
As far as I'm aware it is possible to draw manually as mentioned above. Use the [table to bring into ArcMap] (http://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/tool-reference/data-management/table-to-ellipse.htm). Creating a bounding box using ellipse in ArcMap I believe is not currently available
Here is an Esri idea page [Minimum bound ellipse](https://community.esri.com/ideas/6118
