topic Re: Editing issues in ArcGIS Pro Questions

Editing issues

JoshWhite — Tue, 20 Nov 2018 22:37:13 GMT

I've been using Pro for a while now to do my editing. I've noticed several little things that are driving me crazy and wondered what issues others were having.

Snapping: If I have edge snapping turned on, it seems to take precedence over vertex snapping. I don't remember this behavior in ArcMap. The issue happens when one layer has a vertex that I really want to snap to but the other layer with no vertex is what the snapping seems to want to go to. I'm sure it has something to do with the drawing order but not totally sure. I'd like a bit more fine control over snapping rather than having to toggle edge snapping on/off constantly.

Trace tool: The trace tool is extremely picky and very slow to draw. Sometimes even the slightest of movements makes you have to start over on the sketch.

Split tool: This tool is also extremely picky. We really need a separate tool for polygons called cut or something similar. These were separate in ArcMap.

Re: Editing issues

DanPatterson_Retired — Tue, 20 Nov 2018 22:53:35 GMT

Kory Kramer‌ are these on your 'ideas' or 'in production' lists?

Re: Editing issues

KoryKramer — Tue, 20 Nov 2018 23:49:19 GMT

For the snapping issue does the List by Snapping functionality help?

Re: Editing issues

Scott_Harris — Tue, 20 Nov 2018 23:58:30 GMT

Hi Josh,

For the snapping issue, you may want to look into creating a case with us in Esri Technical Support ph: (888)-377-4575, as I'm not able to reproduce with my own data in ArcGIS Pro 2.2.4.

Perhaps looking into these settings can help:

Are you taking advantage of the snapping tolerance setting? - Turn snapping on or off—ArcGIS Pro | ArcGIS Desktop

How about the ability to turn snapping on or off for a layer in List By Snapping in the Contents pane? - Turn snapping on or off by layer—ArcGIS Pro | ArcGIS Desktop

-Scott

Re: Editing issues

Scott_Harris — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 00:03:01 GMT

FYI - Regarding the split tool, in the next release (2.3), you will have the ability to divide a polygon by distances, equal parts, or by a percentage.

Re: Editing issues

DanPatterson_Retired — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 00:41:37 GMT

cool! I am on beta, so I will check to see how my incarnation fares against it

https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=a3b209b7d70045758ed9b4a3f896edb1

Re: Editing issues

JoshWhite — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 14:10:49 GMT

Yes, that feature is definitely a plus but doesn't quite tackle what I need.

Re: Editing issues

JoshWhite — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 14:12:12 GMT

Yes, I have used those tools. My main idea would be to make vertex snapping a higher priority than edge snapping for both polylines and polygons.

Re: Editing issues

JoshWhite — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 14:13:13 GMT

Thanks Scott. What about cutting a hole in a polygon?

Re: Editing issues

JoshWhite — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 14:32:46 GMT

I was going to try out your tools but I'm unsure how to install them into Pro. I thought they were add-ins but that doesn't appear to be correct. Do you have to add these to each project separately?

Re: Editing issues

Scott_Harris — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 17:19:05 GMT

Hi Josh,

This resource should help:

Cut a hole in a polygon feature—ArcGIS Pro | ArcGIS Desktop

Re: Editing issues

Scott_Harris — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 17:22:15 GMT

I'd like to understand the use case more, but perhaps the problem you are trying to overcome is specific to the data you are working with? If that's the case, contacting Technical Support would be your best bet.

Re: Editing issues

Scott_Harris — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 17:40:00 GMT

If you are creating new polygons with holes, you could start creating the outside of the polygon sketch > right-click and choose "finish part" > then sketch the hole (or donut). This is described in the following ArcMap help document, but works in Pro too:

Creating new donut holes and island polygons—Help | ArcGIS Desktop

Re: Editing issues

JoshWhite — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 17:46:05 GMT

I actually did reference that particular page but that is when I ran into the issues. It is inconsistent at best and I kept getting an error that the line couldn't be split. In fact, just now, when I tried it again on a polygon feature and click the construction tool, Pro seems to freeze for a half second and then nothing happens at all. Not even the warning I was getting yesterday (not sure what is different today). Eventually, after clicking multiple times I am able to get the error again.

Split failed. New geometry must intersect polylines and intersect polygons in two more more places.

That doesn't make sense because what I was trying to do was create a whole in a polygon. I wouldn't want to intersect the sides of the polygon and arguably by drawing my "hole" using the sketch tool over the polygon, I am most certainly intersecting it.

Step 7 also says: Create a closed splitting line that represents the hole in the feature using the tools on the construction toolbar.

As you create the splitting line, the x, and y, coordinates appear in the vertices table.

I see no vertices table in Pro unless it means the geometry under the attributes tab. That table only shows the vertices of the existing feature and sadly cannot be edited either but that's another issue.

I thought maybe Clip was actually what I wanted but as I read through it, I'm not sure of the point of that tool as it doesn't do what I would expect it to do.

Re: Editing issues

JoshWhite — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 17:48:43 GMT

Actually that part does help as long as you do it with the initial polygon creation. I wish I would have known about that option before I started to fight with the split tool. Thanks for showing me that.

Re: Editing issues

Scott_Harris — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 18:11:08 GMT

I think I know what's going on, and it's related to a defect report we have logged:

[BUG-000106958 The Split tool fails to create a nested feature inside the parent polygon when the polygon feature class is z-enabled.]

FYI - the defect is "In Product Plan", meaning our developers intent to release a fix in a future release.

So to use the Split tool to create a donut, you would need to have a polygon that is not z-enabled (not always ideal), so until then I would recommend the following workflow:

Select the polygon you want to cut a hole into.
Bring up the Modify pane and choose "Continue Feature".
Create the polygon that represents the hole (donut) and finish the sketch.

This seems like the most efficient workflow.

Re: Editing issues

JoshWhite — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 19:20:57 GMT

Thanks, that is a workaround I can handle.