topic Re: Limiting a polygon to a specific boundary in ArcGIS Pro Questions

Limiting a polygon to a specific boundary

MitchellEmmaDEC — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 15:23:33 GMT

using ArcGIS Pro 3.5.4

I am trying to clip polygons to just the New York State boundary. Right now the layer files are for the entire US but I want it to show just for NY. I am trying to create a species distribution map for 3 different species of snake on one map. I've used the clip, pairwise clip, spatial join tools and I am unsure if I am using them wrong or need to use a different one. But every time I run the tool it says: empty output generated.

Re: Limiting a polygon to a specific boundary

DanPatterson — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 15:36:15 GMT

Is the new york state boundary a polygon featureclass?

what are the coordinate systems of the files?

There is nothing to preclude you from using clip

Clip (Analysis Tools) | ArcGIS Pro documentation

is there anything in the help topic that doesn't hold true?

Re: Limiting a polygon to a specific boundary

MitchellEmmaDEC — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 15:43:35 GMT

yes the nys boundary is a polygon feature class. the state boundary is in NAD 1983 UTM and the species layers are in WGS 1984. i tried changing the state one to WGS but it said the application is not licensed to perform this operation.

Re: Limiting a polygon to a specific boundary

MikeVolz — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 16:58:00 GMT

What license level are you using with ArcGIS Pro 3.5.4?

Re: Limiting a polygon to a specific boundary

DanPatterson — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 17:02:16 GMT

work with locally stored featureclasses

you can't "change" a coordinate system, you need to make a new one projecting it from one coordinate system to another using the...

Project (Data Management Tools) | ArcGIS Pro documentation

There is no license restrictions on using Project or Clip

Re: Limiting a polygon to a specific boundary

Robert_LeClair — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 17:07:54 GMT

The Clip geoprocessing tool works all license levels - Basic, Standard, Advanced according to the documentation. Since you're getting an empty output generated message, you may want to run the Repair Geometry GP tool on both feature classes to see if there are any issues with them. You did mention that the 2 FC's are in different projections - I would run the Project on the species layer to UTM NAD 83 first, then run the CLIP tool afterwards.

Re: Limiting a polygon to a specific boundary

MitchellEmmaDEC — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 17:32:22 GMT

thank u everyone!!! i got it:)) i had to do the "run the Project on the species layer to UTM NAD 83 first, then run the CLIP tool afterwards." you have all been a huge help!