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Entering linear measurements in feet AND inches

Anonymous User

I am using ArcGIS Desktop 10.1 to edit linear features. In the Distance dialog box, I need to enter measurements in feet and inches and cannot find a way to do this without converting the data myself. I'd rather not do this since there are many measurements I'd need to convert. I've tried the following methods of entering 15 feet, 10 inches into the dialog:

15 ft 10 in
15 ft. 10 in.
15 ft + 10 in
15' 10"
15 feet 10 inches
15ft 10in

And none of those seem to work. I am working in a data frame with a projected coordinate system, so that's one less thing I need to worry about. Can someone give me the right answer?

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RichardFairhurst

I am using ArcGIS Desktop 10.1 to edit linear features. In the Distance dialog box, I need to enter measurements in feet and inches and cannot find a way to do this without converting the data myself. I'd rather not do this since there are many measurements I'd need to convert. I've tried the following methods of entering 15 feet, 10 inches into the dialog:

15 ft 10 in
15 ft. 10 in.
15 ft + 10 in
15' 10"
15 feet 10 inches
15ft 10in

And none of those seem to work. I am working in a data frame with a projected coordinate system, so that's one less thing I need to worry about. Can someone give me the right answer?

Your out of luck. You have to pick feet or inches. You can't enter a mix of unit types into the dialog.

Converting to inches is probably easier than converting to feet without a calculator. The example above is 190 in. But in Feet it is 15.83333. Keeping an Excel spreadsheet open would be easiest if you enter feet into cell A1 and inches into cell A2 and had a formula of =A1+A2/12 in cell A3 (assuming you wanted to enter feet). The spreadsheet is the way to go if you have to deal with fractions of inches.

Of just use this reference for inches converted to feet:

1 in = .08333 ft
2 in = .16667 ft
3 in = .25 ft
4 in = .33333 ft
5 in = .41667 ft
6 in = .5 ft
7 in = .58333 ft
8 in = .66667 ft
9 in = .75 ft
10 in = .83333 ft
11 in = .91667 ft

All comments

michaelcollins1

I don't think you can, the distance seems to be decimal only. Perhaps converting your table beforehand might be the only solution.

RichardFairhurst

I am using ArcGIS Desktop 10.1 to edit linear features. In the Distance dialog box, I need to enter measurements in feet and inches and cannot find a way to do this without converting the data myself. I'd rather not do this since there are many measurements I'd need to convert. I've tried the following methods of entering 15 feet, 10 inches into the dialog:

15 ft 10 in
15 ft. 10 in.
15 ft + 10 in
15' 10"
15 feet 10 inches
15ft 10in

And none of those seem to work. I am working in a data frame with a projected coordinate system, so that's one less thing I need to worry about. Can someone give me the right answer?

Anonymous User

Well, it's not a table; it's a printed map where the measurements have been written down with a pen. I'll probably just convert to inches, write those numbers on the paper map, and proceed to edit.

Courtney360

Maybe this will help you...

I used the Field Calculator to convert a short integer field containing inches to a new text field containing feet and inches. So, for example, the value 126 from the integer field would then be 10' 6" in the text field.

str(!MAXWIDTH_SHORT! /12) + "'" + " " + str(!MAXWIDTH_SHORT!%12) + "''"

Where !MAXWIDTH_SHORT! is the short integer field. "/" returns the whole number (feet), while "%" returns the remainder (inches).

DanPatterson_Retired

+1 for the metric system

Anonymous User

That is good info, and will be really helpful to people searching this site when they are calculating a field. What I was needing help with was entering distance lengths while creating a feature. While creating a sketch, ArcMap allows you specify a distance, or length, of the current segment. The little dialog that pops up will allow you to enter a number with no units (in which case it will use map units) or you can specify an abbreviation if your're using different units. My question was based on the fact that a hand-drawn map I was given showed lengths of segments in feet and inches, and I had hoped ArcMap's distance dialog would accept both. But according to posts here, it does not. Thank you for your reply, though. I think I just didn't post the question properly.

"Roj"

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