topic Dividing/Splitting Lines in Data Management Questions

Dividing/Splitting Lines

JamesBegley — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:32:31 GMT

ArcGIS 10 does not have the editing option of "divide" that previous versions had. Now the only option that seems similiar is "split." The problem that I'm having is that I used to be able to take a line that was a single feature and divide it into 100 meter segments, and generally the last segment would be shorter than 100 meters because the line wasn't completely dividable by 100 (this wasn't not a problem for my analysis). I currently have a line that is around 41 miles long (66,068.503 meters to be exact) and I want to divide it, or split it, into quarter mile segments (402.336 meters). Again, it doesn't matter if the last segment isn't quite a quarter mile. The split option apparently does not allow me do this. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Re: Dividing/Splitting Lines

WesKing — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:19:47 GMT

Hi James,
I'm not sure if there is an easier way, but you can always use 'Construct Points' in the Editor toolbar dropdown and use the Distance option set to 100m. After the points are constructed you can use the 'Split Line at Point' tool (Data Managent > Features) to split the line based on your points. With 'Split Line at Point' I've had to apply a small search distance sometimes to get it to work properly.

Would love to hear an easier/quicker way, but at least this works.

Good Luck!

Re: Dividing/Splitting Lines

SaisudhaVivekanandan — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 19:31:04 GMT

Hello James,

There definitey is an option in ArcGIS 10 to do what you need. Below are the steps to do it:
- In the editor toolbar, click Editor -> Start Editing.
- Select the line segment that you want to split using the Edit Tool.
- Again, click on the Editor drop-down and choose 'Split...'. The split dialog box opens.
- In the split options section, choose Distance option and enter the splitting length.
- You may also choose if you want the splitting to begin from the start or end of the line segment in the orientation section of the dialog box. Click OK.

Hope this helps!

Thanks,
Saisudha Vivekanandan | Desktop Analyst, Support Services | Esri

Re: Dividing/Splitting Lines

WesKing — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 19:38:36 GMT

Hi Saisudha,
I think the problem with that option is that it will only split the line one time (at the distance the user inputs). James wanted the whole line to be divided up into multiple segments all of the same length (with usually one left over segment at the end being smaller). If I'm missing something in "Split" that provides this option I'd love to hear it.

Wes

Re: Dividing/Splitting Lines

RhondaGlennon — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:19:09 GMT

There is a utility on the Editing Labs group on arcgis.com that will divide a line multiple times and leave a remainder. You can download the add-in from http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=d5d27ee47330434b9a96b91136a0118f

Other Editing Labs tools for ArcGIS 10 (make sure the filter at the top of the page is Show: All Content, not Web Content Only):
http://www.arcgis.com/home/group.html?owner=Doug&title=Editing%20Labs

Re: Dividing/Splitting Lines

WilliamWillis — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 13:24:39 GMT

Try the proportion tool. Go to the "Customize" tab, over to "Toolbars" and click on the "Customize" tab on the very bottom of the list. Select the "Commands" tab and under Advanced Edit Tools there is "Proportion". Click and drag the tool onto an existing toolbar. If you have a large number of the same length, you can click on the "Duplicate" button on the right side, its the top button. Hopefully that helps.

Re: Dividing/Splitting Lines

KirkSherrill — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 19:44:08 GMT

Looking through this thread the solutions posted for performing a division of a line segment by a specified distance seem to be limited to analysis only within the ArcMap environment. Is anyone aware of a "Divide" like tool which can be used programmatically to divide lines segments by a defined distance in Python?

Any guidance would be appreciated,

Thanks,

Kirk Sherrill
GIS Specialist - NPS

Re: Dividing/Splitting Lines

JoeBorgione — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 19:49:19 GMT

There is a utility on the Editing Labs group on arcgis.com that will divide a line multiple times and leave a remainder. You can download the add-in from http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=d5d27ee47330434b9a96b91136a0118f

Other Editing Labs tools for ArcGIS 10 (make sure the filter at the top of the page is Show: All Content, not Web Content Only):
http://www.arcgis.com/home/group.html?owner=Doug&title=Editing%20Labs

Hey Rhonda- Any chance the folks at the editing labs would be interested in bringing back the 'House Number Tool'; it would split a street centerline and then do the math for proportioning address ranges. Slickest thing since hash browns. I miss it terribly!

Re: Dividing/Splitting Lines

RhondaGlennon — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 15:47:58 GMT

Hi Joe -

Is there any chance the ArcGIS for Local Government - Address Management add-in has the tools you need? Maybe the Create Road and Split Intersecting Road tool?

http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/localgovernment/10.1/index.html#//028s00000073000000

If not, you might contact the Local Government folks or post your suggestion to the ArcGIS Ideas site: http://ideas.arcgis.com/idealist?c=09a300000004xET&category=local+government

Re: Dividing/Splitting Lines

JoeBorgione — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 18:14:53 GMT

Hi Joe -

Is there any chance the ArcGIS for Local Government - Address Management add-in has the tools you need? Maybe the Create Road and Split Intersecting Road tool?

http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/localgovernment/10.1/index.html#//028s00000073000000

If not, you might contact the Local Government folks or post your suggestion to the ArcGIS Ideas site: http://ideas.arcgis.com/idealist?c=09a300000004xET&category=local+government

I'm looking at the Local Govgernment 101 pages now, and don't see anything so far. I'll post a request to the ideas page.

Thanks !

edited moments later: looks like the description of the tool mentioned should do it; I'll download it and see how it works....

Re: Dividing/Splitting Lines

RebeccaStrauch__GISP — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 17:21:24 GMT

Hi Joe -

Is there any chance the ArcGIS for Local Government - Address Management add-in has the tools you need? Maybe the Create Road and Split Intersecting Road tool?

http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/localgovernment/10.1/index.html#//028s00000073000000

I can't seem to find the download for the Address Managment add-in. Keeps sending me in circles, do you have a direct link? I wanted to see if that would help in my situation.

My task: I have transects that are already split into segments of variable lengths. I need to re-divide the non-contiguous transects into 1Km segments. Some of the segments are already shorter than the 1Km, so will have to have additional length added from the next segement (and deal with the remainder). Each new segement will retain it's old tag, and get a new field with a unique identifier for the new segment. Then I will need to reassign the appropriate new segments tags to an associated point feature.

I have just started my search for possible tools or starting points, but realize I will probably have to write something more custom. If anyone has any suggestions or leads, it would be appreciated. I most likely will need to start a new thread for this, but just in case.... Thanks

Re: Dividing/Splitting Lines

RhondaGlennon — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 17:33:18 GMT

Here are the download locations for the Address Data Management tools. You might take a look and re-post your question to the Local Government forum: http://forums.arcgis.com/forums/212-Local-Government.

For ArcGIS 10:
http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=255f253734d8484dba29b4cc1499793b

For ArcGIS 10.1:
http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=915796ef17124d09a25130c223835474

Re: Dividing/Splitting Lines

NicoleCarlozo — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 19:46:48 GMT

I just downloaded the tool from the Editing Labs group. However, I am wondering if there is anything available to split multiple line segments within the same feature?

Re: Dividing/Splitting Lines

NicoleCarlozo — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 18:17:53 GMT

I was able to find the answer to my question here:

http://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/36724/partitioning-a-line-into-segments

While the "Split Line at Point" tool did not initially work, I just kept running it until it was successful. Not sure why it did not work initially. I think defining a processing extent helped.

Re: Dividing/Splitting Lines

SusanBien — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 14:09:31 GMT

I'm looking for a way to split a line at the midpoint between two vertices. Or if I have a series of line segments, is there anyway to go down the line and merge every 2 segments together? I have a series of slope measurements on a road. Just splitting the segment at each vertex does not accurately reflect the data which was collected at each vertex. The vertex needs to be the midpoint of each line segment. It can be a script or a program, etc as long as it does the job. Thanks.

Re: Dividing/Splitting Lines

RichardFairhurst — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 14:15:23 GMT

I'm looking for a way to split a line at the midpoint between two vertices. Or if I have a series of line segments, is there anyway to go down the line and merge every 2 segments together? I have a series of slope measurements on a road. Just splitting the segment at each vertex does not accurately reflect the data which was collected at each vertex. The vertex needs to be the midpoint of each line segment. It can be a script or a program, etc as long as it does the job. Thanks.

Create two double fields called X_LINE_MID and Y_LINE_MID on the lines. Use the Geometry calculator to calculate the X and Y MIdpoint values of the lines into those fields. Open the tableview of the lines and export that to a table (not a feature class). Use the Make X/Y Event Layer tool to create points from the Midpoint X and Y coordinates of the exported table. Export the layer its context menu in the table of contents to permanently covert the event table layer into an actual point Feature Class. That should be what you want and each point will have all of the attributes of the lines they came from.

Re: Dividing/Splitting Lines

SusanBien — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 16:08:51 GMT

I need to end up with a series of line segments that are equal to the original line feature. I was looking to split the line at the midpoint between every two vertices(vertices every 0.1 feet) If that isn't possible I was wondering if I could split the line every 0.05 feet. I would then merge every 2 segments into 1 segment to get the result I need.

Re: Dividing/Splitting Lines

RichardFairhurst — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 16:24:39 GMT

I need to end up with a series of line segments that are equal to the original line feature. I was looking to split the line at the midpoint between every two vertices(vertices every 0.1 feet) If that isn't possible I was wondering if I could split the line every 0.05 feet. I would then merge every 2 segments into 1 segment to get the result I need.

Split the line at every vertex then apply the method I specified to get the midpoints of each of these split segments exactly midway between the original vertices. Extract those points as I described previously. Then you can split the original line on those points and except for the end vertices of the line (or any 2 point line) a single vertex of the original line will now be somewhere in the center of these newly split lines. That seems to be what you are describing as the result of the splitting and merging that you want. The ends of the line will be connected to split line segments that are 1/2 the distance to the original vertex that was closest to them.

So if the original line looked like this (where red periods are line ends and black periods are pseudo-node vertices).

.______.____.______.____.

The end result of the process would look like this (assume all periods have no actual width so the set of 5 lines below are in fact the exact same total length as the single line above):

.___.___.__.__.___.___.__.__.

If this is not the result you want, use the above method of displaying lines and vertices to depict how the first line shown should look at the end of the process you really want to accomplish on that line.