topic Re: Split polyline by perpendicular line from nearest feature in ArcGIS Mapping and Charting Questions

Split polyline by perpendicular line from nearest feature

TysonWilliams1 — Fri, 22 Jul 2016 16:05:08 GMT

I'm searching for a tool that allows for a polyline to be split by creating a perpendicular line from the nearest point. This would be used to break up a river polyline to determine the reach and river mile at each diversion point. While I could manually split the river polyline with the editor, this would become a very tedious task if there were hundreds of diversion points within a section of a river. I have attempted to use the near tool, but not having any success. Any thoughts on this? Thanks!

Re: Split polyline by perpendicular line from nearest feature

ChrisDonohue__GISP — Fri, 22 Jul 2016 16:18:16 GMT

If you have access to an Advanced ArcGIS License, one possibility is:

Split Line at Point—Data Management toolbox | ArcGIS for Desktop

Chris Donohue, GISP

Re: Split polyline by perpendicular line from nearest feature

DarrenWiens2 — Fri, 22 Jul 2016 16:24:17 GMT

I don't think there is a single tool that will do this out of the box, but you can think of it as a two part problem:

1.) Create a point at the nearest location on the line

2.) Split by point

#1 is the tricky part, and the way you do it will depend on your licensing and version. With advanced license, you can use Generate Near Table to get XY coordinates. With 10.2+, you can use arcpy Polyline queryPointAndDistance method (all licenses).

edit: I didn't realize you could set a search radius with the advanced tool, Split Line by Point. That's a better advanced license solution.

Re: Split polyline by perpendicular line from nearest feature

TysonWilliams1 — Fri, 22 Jul 2016 16:38:44 GMT

Thanks! That worked pretty well.