topic Creating points at a specific distance from other points along a line in Data Management Questions

Creating points at a specific distance from other points along a line

RajeshPaleti — Tue, 24 Mar 2015 23:36:13 GMT

I have a network file (polyline) and I have a separate point file. The point file FIELDS include coordinates of the starting point and "LENGTH" which is distance along the line from the starting point.

Now, I want to create or locate points along the line which are at "LENGTH" distances from the starting points in the point file.

First, I created a route from the transportation network file.

Then, I added the starting points as events along the route.

But, I am not able to figure out how to create a new set of route events which are at specific distance from the first set of route events along the route.

I am using ArcGIS 10.2.2 Desktop

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Re: Creating points at a specific distance from other points along a line

XanderBakker — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 01:27:56 GMT

Normally you would use the Make Route Event Layer tool to convert a table with "events" to for instance points. Do you have the route identifier in the point file attribute table?

Read more on dynamic segmentation here: ArcGIS Help (10.2, 10.2.1, and 10.2.2)

The other way to go would be the use of some python code. No need to have a network, just polylines will do:

Loop through the points
For each point define which line (route) belongs to it
Use the arcpy.Polyline.positionAlongLine(value, {use_percentage}) to get the point

Re: Creating points at a specific distance from other points along a line

RajeshPaleti — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 01:38:03 GMT

Thanks for your reply Xander. In fact, I used the Make Route Event Layer tool to create a table with events. I also have the RID in the event table. But, now I need to create a second set of events which are at a specific distance from the first set of events along the polyline. Is there no way to do this without the python script?

Re: Creating points at a specific distance from other points along a line

XanderBakker — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 01:45:28 GMT

That's odd. I would expect this tool to create a layer from the events.

Could you attach a small sample of your data (some lines and corresponding points)?

Re: Creating points at a specific distance from other points along a line

XanderBakker — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 02:43:56 GMT

OK, so I created a few lines, added some points near the start of the line and created routes from the lines.

I created a field "DistFromStart" with some values of the distance from the start (or actually the point).

My steps were as follows:

Locate Features Along Routes (this creates the event table shown below)
I added a field "newMeasure" which is the measure of the input point from the start of the line and I added the DistFromStart to this value to create a measure from the start of the line
Then I used the Make Route Event Layer to create the event points (blue squares) which is what you are looking for (as far as I understand)

Re: Creating points at a specific distance from other points along a line

RajeshPaleti — Thu, 26 Mar 2015 19:25:50 GMT

Thanks Bakker! I could replicate your steps in my case. Thank again for the splendid example and please excuse me for the delayed response.

Re: Creating points at a specific distance from other points along a line

XanderBakker — Thu, 26 Mar 2015 22:51:38 GMT

You´re welcome! BTW my first name is Xander....