topology help

Question

Hello,

I'm having trouble getting a topology, or geometric network, to work the way I want it to and I was hoping someone had a suggestion.

I have a sewer line layer, a manhole point layer, and another point layer that is connections to that sewer.  I created a geometric network so that when I move a manhole (to update accuracy in field) the line moves with it.  The lines have endpoints or vertices at each manhole only, not at each connection.  The problem is that when I move something, the connections do not move with it.  Adding the connections to the geometric network creates vertices there and that doesn't work since the line from 1 manhole to another is a straight line...so no vertices in between.

My next attempt was to replicate the data in the network and create a topology that would (hopefully) show me, or fix, all of the connections that are not snapped to the lines.  After that I could then synchronize the replica back.  The problem is that the only rule I found that makes any sense for this issue is "point must be covered by line", but that moves the line and creates a vertex at every connection (i apparently have many un-snapped connections already without having moved any manholes yet).  I want to move the connection to the line and have no vertex.  Is this possible?

Any other options for doing this?

Thanks!

EricGardecki · Answer

I can't be sure this would help or not.  I just experimented by starting over with a new topology without any rules and apparently the creation of the topology itself is what causes things to move and the vertices to be created at each point feature along the line.

So it would seem that topology is not the answer after all if there is no way to prevent this from happening.

Maybe there is some other functionality that will accomplish this?  Any other suggestions?  I don't know what other details to give you that I didn't already say above.  All of this is done only so that I can move features as one....or at least make it easier to fix the features that didn't move.

Thanks

ToddBlanchette · Answer

Hi again Eric,

Without actually seeing how your data/topology/network are set up, my first step would be to take a look at the snapping options, specifically snapping to topology nodes.  This will enable you to snap to features that make up your network, even when there is no vertex present.

Here's the help out of the ESRI online documentation:

Enabling snapping to topology nodes allows you to snap to a node in a map topology or a geodatabase topology. You might do this when you need to move parts of topology edges or snap to a location that is not an actual vertex in the feature. To enable topology node snapping, point snapping needs to be enabled first, and the map must contain either a map topology or geodatabase topology with the layers you want to snap to participating in it.

Steps:

*  Make sure you are in an edit session and have either a map topology or geodatabase topology containing the layers to which you want to snap. 
*  Click the Snapping menu on the Snapping toolbar and click Use Snapping.  
*  Ensure point snapping is enabled. If it is not, click Point Snapping on the Snapping toolbar. 
*  Click the Snapping menu on the Snapping toolbar and click Snap To Topology Nodes.

Hopefully this solves your issue, otherwise we'll have to keep investigating.

Good luck!

Todd