Generating random number of points in each polygon based on polygon area?

Question

I would like to generate random points in various polygons from the same layer in ArcGIS 10.2 (I tried the "create random points" feature), however I do not want the same number of points in every polygon.

I would like to set it so that the number of points per polygon is based on the size (with a minimum of at least 1 point per polygon), so that the bigger polygons have more points generated in them and the smaller ones have less.

I am doing this to figure out points to ground truth underwater benthic reef features.

Answer 1

If you look at the help file for the tool the fifth parameter is where you define the number of points for each feature. It can be a number (thus constant) or if as you'll find out reading the help file a field. All you need to do is create a new field, compute the number of points per polygon based upon your criteria (you don't actually explain how you intend to compute this other than larger is more, but we can assume you know what you are doing) and select that field for the parameter.