Thanks to all who answered my plea for a way to generate random points - Lisa Zygo, Nick Seigal (who sent numerous suggestions which follow), Bill Huber (whose suggestions also follow). I actually ended up downloading the "Random Points" extension, written by Jeff Jenness, which worked well for me. Thanks for all the support! There's an on-line manual you can look at if you're interested, at: http://www.jennessent.com/arcview/random_points.htm and you can download it at: http://gis.esri.com/arcscripts/details.cfm?CFGRIDKEY=C63AC5CB-029F-11D5-9438 00508B0CB419 or http://www.jennessent.com/arcview/arcview_extensions.htm Jeff Jenness GIS Analyst and Application Designer Jenness Enterprises www.jennessent.com > >From Bill Huber: >See "Simple random sample" at >http://gis.esri.com/arcscripts/details.cfm?CFGRIDKEY=F85591D4-567E-11D4-943 1 >594f61c&lat=991750265&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fgis%2eesri%2ecom%2farcscript s >%2fdetails%2ecfm%3fCFGRIDKEY%3dF85591D4%2d567E%2d11D4%2d9431> >00508B0CB419 . > >For more powerful capabilities, see "Sample" at >http://www.quantdec.com/sample/index.htm >a9f1ef2&lat=991750265&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2equantdec%2ecom%2fsampl e >%2findex%2ehtm> . > >These are both ArcView solutions. > > > >>From: "Nick Seigal" >>To: "whitney weber" >>Subject: Re: [ARCVIEW-L] generating random points, not random sample >>Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2001 21:17:34 -0700 >> >>I am send you a variety of things. The first script creates a random set >of >>centroids of a polygon layer. The second and third create random points >>within polygons. These are graphic points, but can be easily made into a >>theme. The third script may not interest you, but it creates a regular >>triangular array of points within selected polygons -- good for uniform >>sampling. >> >>Please feel free to write me with any questions. >> >>Nick Seigal >> >><< <> >NickSeigal.CreateRandomSamplePointsTheme.ave >> > >><< <> >randompointsinpoly_fromfield.ave >> > >><< <> randompointsinpoly.ave >> > >><< <> >nickseigal.createtriangulararray.ave