Why does Unsplit Lines create Multipart Features?

Question

I have a stream feature class with many features that form a chain, one after the other with no side streams coming in. I am trying to create a clean feature class of stream segments by combining segments that meet at their endpoints using the Unsplit Lines tool. The output feature class does combine features, creating just one feature for each section between stream confluences... but the problem is that many of these are now multipart features. Why does this happen - is it a bug?

To make sure that it wasn't a problem with the input data, I first ran the Multipart to Singlepart tool to get a feature class that would have no multipart features as input. I then used the field calculator to confirm that the features each had only one part. I then ran the Unsplit Lines tool on the result and the same thing happened - the output features had multiple parts.  I'm using ArcGIS Pro 2.8.1

BarryKronenfeld1 · Answer

So coming back to this after several years, in case others are running into the same confusion. I have confirmed via multiple tests that the Unsplit Lines tool really does result in multipart features and it is not an issue of overlapping segments. I have not been able to definitively determine when it does or does not do this, but for a feature class from the National Hydrography Dataset with features with exactly the same vertices where one feature meets another, the Unsplit Lines will sometimes put these together into one single part feature but other times put them together into one multipart feature. For rivers comprised of 30-40 segments, the tool will sometimes merge some of the segments but not others, for example resulting in a multipart feature with 10-20 parts. There is a workaround that somebody showed me:

1. Run the Unsplit Lines tool resulting in multipart features.

2. On the resulting feature class, run the Dissolve tool with the object ID as the field to dissolve by, and BOTH the Create Multipart Features and Unsplit Lines options UNCHECKED.

This will result in single part features that have been aggregated to the maximum allowed by the topology (i.e. extending all the way between junctions of three or more features).

BarryKronenfeld1 · Answer

OK, so I think I found the culprit - it seems that the input data has overlapping segments. They must be tiny because I can't see them even when zoomed in as far as I can go... The clue is that when I manually "explode" a feature and then "merge" it back together with the defaults, it becomes multipart again, but if I uncheck the box to "preserve overlapping segments" then it gets reduced to a single part.

BarryKronenfeld1 · Answer

No. Good thought, I could see where that would happen with a Dissolve field but no I'm just doing a simple run of Unsplit Lines with no Dissolve field, accepting all default parameters. Input features all have only one part, but output has multipart features.  I'm having to go in and manually explode those features and then merge them back together again.