

When the input is a point feature class, the output will always be circular arcs. If the input is a projected coordinate system and the output is a geodatabase feature class, the output may contain circular arc segments. When using the Planar method, you can improve the accuracy of buffers created with projected inputs using a projection that minimizes distance distortion, such as an Equidistant Conic or an Azimuthal Equidistant projection, and is geographically appropriate for your input. You can change the coordinate system of a feature class using the Project tool, or you can set the Output Coordinate System environment before executing the Buffer tool, and this coordinate system will be used when creating buffers. However, the result is a buffer that more accurately matches the shape of the input feature. In some cases, this option may take more time than a geodesic buffer created using the Planar option. The input features are densified to create buffers that more accurately represent the shape of the input features. The Geodesic option creates a shape-preserving geodesic buffer for any input coordinate system.

This option produces the same result as the Buffer tool prior to ArcGIS 10.3.If the input features have a geographic coordinate system and you specify a Buffer Distance value in linear units (meters, feet, and so forth, as opposed to angular units such as degrees), geodesic buffers will be created.If the input features have a projected coordinate system, Euclidean buffers will be created.This option will automatically determine which method to use based on the coordinate system of the input. The Method parameter specifies how buffers will be created. For more information, see How Buffer works. When displayed on a globe, however, these buffers will look correct. Geodesic buffers may appear unusual on a flat map.

