ERROR: "Can't save to disk (check for space, write permission, or name)" while creating TIN in memory

Question

I get the following error while creating TIN in memory : ERROR 999999: Error executing function. Can't save to disk (check for space, write permission, or name). Failed to execute (CreateTin).

I don't have any issue with writing any feature class in memory, I wonder why it doesn't work for TIN.

TIN = arcpy.CreateTin_3d("in_memory/TIN", Coordinate_System, "XS_lyr P001 hardline FID", "DELAUNAY")

When I remove the "in_memory/" and just save it on local drive it works fine.

Answer 1

As mentioned on the Fundamentals of Creating TIN Surfaces help page, TINs are file-based.

If you want to store a Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN)-based surface in a geodatabase (and think of an in_memory workspace as being much like a file geodatabase), then you should use a Terrain Dataset.