Splitting lines automatically

Question

Alright. I'm somewhat new to 10.0, and there was a feature that automatically worked when I first started this project using 10.0 that didn't work when using 9.3 to my knowledge. Suddenly, it has stopped working and I have not changed anything.

I am doing work for electric utility, so I have points that represent utility poles.

I've been connecting line features between poles which represent the conductor.

When I first started doing this right after we switched to 10.0, I realized that when I had the main line drawn, and drew another line off the main line it would automatically split the main line at the pole where I drew the other line tapping off.

This saves me a lot of time, so that I don't need to split each line at intersections or what we call taps.

But after this last delivery and after I got the new load of data, it is no longer automatically splitting the line when I draw another line off of it.

Does anyone know why? I've looked through the settings but can't find anything.

Sorry if I've explained this horribly. Let me know if screenshots are needed.

Thanks.

IanBroad2 · Answer

Anyone else?

IanBroad2 · Answer

There is some chance your data may have previously had COGO attribute fields. COGO is mostly used with parcel or survey data and records directions and lengths into the attribute table. If COGO attributes are found, ArcMap automatically splits line segments where they change directions to make sure each feature is completely straight or curved (known as "two-point lines"). If you still have the old data, maybe you can compare it to the fields in the new data. If you find that some fields are no longer present, COGO is probably the cause of the behavior and you will need to add them again to make the lines split automatically.

http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/#/An_overview_of_COGO/001t000000mr000000/
http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/#/About_COGO_and_feature_templates/001t000000n0000000/

COGO is the only built-in functionality that I can think of that would automatically split lines, although there could be add-ins or scripts out there that will do this without the added maintenance of the COGO fields. You could also use the Split Line At Vertices or Split Line At Point geoprocessing tools after you create the feature.

Thank you for your reply.

The attributes fields are the exact same as before because all I have done is imported new data into an existing feature class. So I don't believe it has anything to do with this COGO you mentioned. We do not have any attributes fields related to COGO.

Also, I would use the Split Line At Vertices or Split Line At Point tools but sadly my license is not valid with those. I do think that those features should be available on all versions of ArcMap though.

RhondaGlennon · Answer

There is some chance your data may have previously had COGO attribute fields. COGO is mostly used with parcel or survey data and records directions and lengths into the attribute table. If COGO attributes are found, ArcMap automatically splits line segments where they change directions to make sure each feature is completely straight or curved (known as "two-point lines"). If you still have the old data, maybe you can compare it to the fields in the new data. If you find that some fields are no longer present, COGO is probably the cause of the behavior and you will need to add them again to make the lines split automatically.

http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/#/An_overview_of_COGO/001t000000mr000000/
http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/#/About_COGO_and_feature_templates/001t000000n0000000/

COGO is the only built-in functionality that I can think of that would automatically split lines, although there could be add-ins or scripts out there that will do this without the added maintenance of the COGO fields. You could also use the Split Line At Vertices or Split Line At Point geoprocessing tools after you create the feature.