CompassDirection

When using a Context Scope of Nearest, limits the context features included based on their geometric position relative to the data value.

Remarks

Overview

The CompassDirection enumeration is used in Field Class objects to filter context features by their geometric direction relative to a candidate value. This is only applicable when the 'Context Scope' property is set to Nearest. It enables fine-grained spatial filtering, allowing you to include or exclude features based on their position (such as above, below, left, right, or diagonal) with respect to the value being classified.

Multiple directions can be combined using bitwise flags. For example, to include only features above or to the left of a value, use:

The special value All includes features from all directions.

Usage Examples

• To focus on likely label positions, include only features above (North) or to the left (West) of a value.
• To reduce noise, exclude features in certain directions (for example, ignore features below a value).
• Combine with the 'Max Distance' property to restrict the spatial region considered for context features.

Special Behaviors

• Features on a previous page are treated as north; features on a subsequent page are treated as south.
• When 'GeoTag Features' is enabled, features are tagged with their direction (for example, (n) for north).

Related Properties

• 'Geo Filter': Specifies which directions to include when extracting context features in Nearest mode.
• 'Max Distance': Limits the maximum distance (in inches) for included features.
• 'GeoTag Features': When enabled, appends a direction tag to each feature.

For more information, see the documentation for Field Class, 'Context Scope', and related extraction settings.

A combination of the following flags:

Name	Value		Description
North	1		Above the data value. Values on a previous page are also considered north.
South	2		Below the data value. Values on a subsequent page are also considered south.
West	4		Left of the data value.
East	8		Right of the data value.
NorthWest	16		Above and left of the data value.
NorthEast	32		Above and right of the data value.
SouthWest	64		Below and left of the data value.
SouthEast	128		Below and right of the data value.
All	255		All Directions

Used By

Field Class