topic Dividing Square/Rectangular Polygons Into Equal Widths in Data Management Questions

Dividing Square/Rectangular Polygons Into Equal Widths

StevenDudek — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 14:14:34 GMT

Hi All,

I'm new to the field of GIS and am working on a project where I am tracing buildings, but have to split the building polygon into equal widths for townhomes, apartments, etc. I am using ArcEditor version 9.3 (Build 1770)

Using the "Split Polygon" tool is tedious. Is there another tool I can use that will accomplish the same thing? The "Divide" and "Proportion" tool won't work on a single polygon - they are greyed-out upon selecting the building.

Any help is appreciated!

Re: Dividing Square/Rectangular Polygons Into Equal Widths

JuanLuera — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 11:41:49 GMT

Hola Steve,

I am including suggestions below; they each work very well as options. Please let us know if we can be of further assistance with this issue. Gracias, Steve!

Cut polygon features along the boundary of existing polygons
http://support.esri.com/es/knowledgebase/techarticles/detail/31876
Splitting a polygon by an overlapping line feature
http://webhelp.esri.com/arcgisdesktop/9.3/index.cfm?TopicName=Common_polygon_editing_tasks
Splitting polygon features
http://webhelp.esri.com/arcgisdesktop/9.3/index.cfm?TopicName=Splitting_polygon_features

Re: Dividing Square/Rectangular Polygons Into Equal Widths

StevenDudek — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 13:35:51 GMT

Gracias Juan,

I really appreciate the information you provided. It appears those links keep referring to the "Cut Polygon" tool, which is what I am using now. I was hoping there was a tool to create equal polygons in a given width.

As an example, I might have a building that is a single rectangle that is 60 feet wide and needs to be split into 4 equal parts of 15 feet each. Currently I am selecting the rectangle polygon and using the Cut Polygon tool to manually slice up the polygon into 15 foot areas. The problem is I sometimes work with 100 of these polygons which represent apartment buildings and/or townhomes. In that scenario I am manually creating 400 polygons.

I am hoping there is a tool out there that I can input: "here is a 60 foot width, now split it into 4 equal parts". I've read about a "fishnet" script, but I was hoping for something less complicated and already built into the ArcGIS Editor. I've also looked into a "Topology" tool, but when I highlight my building polygon and try to use the "Planarize Lines", it is not available and is greyed-out.

Re: Dividing Square/Rectangular Polygons Into Equal Widths

JamesGirvan — Thu, 15 Aug 2013 15:14:27 GMT

I am having the same need. You would think that this should be a simple process that does not require the use of topology or exploding the polygon, splitting lines, reassembling the polygon then splitting at the new vertices. I also have ET Geowizards and XTools, at this point I am unable to find the necessary tool in either. Let me know if your situation has improved.

Re: Dividing Square/Rectangular Polygons Into Equal Widths

JohnSobetzer — Thu, 15 Aug 2013 16:19:10 GMT

Some possibilities that might help:

http://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/5300/how-to-divide-a-polygon-into-specific-sizes-using-arcgis

http://forums.esri.com/Thread.asp?c=93&f=987&t=206832&mc=8#650906

There is a parcel editor toolbar split parcel tool that reportedly will split polygons. I haven't used it.

I suppose one could manually do something that visually may work (especially with thicker lines!) by creating a fishnet and then selecting the best two lines from it to use on any polygon (or group if they "line" up) with the split polygon tool.