topic Re: Trace tool in Create Features randomly(?) not working - Help! in ArcGIS Enterprise Portal Questions

Trace tool in Create Features randomly(?) not working - Help!

BrettDavies — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 07:29:45 GMT

Hi
I'm compiling a geologic map and use the trace tool to generate infill polygons. Very recently - I upgraded with the latest Service Pack for v.10 - the tool stopped working in parts (seemingly) of the map. I hit the 'trace icon', click on the last point of the newly developing polygon (located on an existing polygon), wait for it to 'register' and then hear a tone/beep and note that it refuses to trace along the pre-existing polygon's boundary. It has happened in other parts of the map, but it is consistent in one part. I can only hand 'draw' the polygon and then clip the existing polygons to 'cut-out' the new one.
Sometimes ArcMap just hangs after clicking the last polygon and I have to restart it.
I am completing a major project for a client here in the Sahara Desert (yes, it is hot at the moment) and urgently need to understand / fix the issue. Any suggestions/help would be very gratefully received!
Thanks.

Re: Trace tool in Create Features randomly(?) not working - Help!

NAOMIPAUL — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 12:21:17 GMT

Have you found a work around or solution? I am having the same problem. There is no pattern as to when tools/functions will work and when they will not. I could trace yesterday, part of the time, then it would start and nothing would draw. This morning the same issue. I have created a new project and it still isn't working.

I am also having the same problem with snapping.

😞

Re: Trace tool in Create Features randomly(?) not working - Help!

MaryM — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 15:35:22 GMT

Myself and a co-worker have lost the use of trace tool. This seems to be an error that ESRI people do not seem to post about, huh?

Re: Trace tool in Create Features randomly(?) not working - Help!

NAOMIPAUL — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 12:31:05 GMT

At the moment it is working with shapefiles, but not SDE or File geodatabases. My data is all in SDE geodatabases.

I'm at a loss.

Re: Trace tool in Create Features randomly(?) not working - Help!

KyleShort — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 18:07:54 GMT

I am having the same problem as well. Have any of you found a solution?

Thank you

Re: Trace tool in Create Features randomly(?) not working - Help!

KyleShort — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 19:06:29 GMT

Hi,

I am having the same problems mentioned above in other user�??s posts. I was not able to trace certain polygons in certain areas of my map for apparently no reason. I did find that when I zoomed in far enough I was able to use the trace tool, as long as the certain area of trouble on the map was not being shown. In the area of trouble, I found that if I cut a very large road parcel polygon to smaller segments, using the line segment tool, I was able to trace the features in the area I wasn�??t able to before. It seems the tracing tool has a hard time working with very large polygons in its vicinity.

Re: Trace tool in Create Features randomly(?) not working - Help!

BrettDavies — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 06:02:06 GMT

Hi all above,

Two things seem to have some (minimal, unsatisfactory) effect:
1) Zooming right in - and I mean right in - sometimes restores the trace ability, but if it's a big trace then it's really not a practical option.
2) I have shut down Arc and rebooted Windows and that - again sometimes - restores functionality, but eventually that is lost again.

The only workaround is by overlapping the new polygon with an existing one (where the boundaries are in the right place etc and then using the existing polygon to clip the new one. A bit tedious at times.

I hope an ESRI moderator is watching this thread, because some information on why this is happening, or a fix, would be very, very welcome for those of us compiling geologic maps.

Cheers

Re: Trace tool in Create Features randomly(?) not working - Help!

ChrisFox3 — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 20:34:54 GMT

All,

I am hoping that someone could assist me with getting a reproducible case of the issues described here. This will be very helpful in determining the problem and what would be necessary to resolve the defect in the software. If you have sample data and steps to recreate the issue could you please send me this information?

Thank you,

Re: Trace tool in Create Features randomly(?) not working - Help!

NAOMIPAUL — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 11:42:36 GMT

All,

I am hoping that someone could assist me with getting a reproducible case of the issues described here. This will be very helpful in determining the problem and what would be necessary to resolve the defect in the software. If you have sample data and steps to recreate the issue could you please send me this information?

Thank you,

Chris,

Any data I send you will be in shapefiles and the Trace tool works with shapefiles, but not in a geodatabase. Especially SDE!

I was using our parcel polys and parcel lines when I lost the use of the Trace tool. It was buggy most of the summer, then it stopped working all together. Our GIS data is available for download at http://egov1.co.gaston.nc.us/website/ParcelDataSite/DataSales/GISdata.htm

I have had the data in SDE 9.2 (SQL 2000/Server 2003), 9.3.1 and 10 (SQL 2008 / Server 2008) my client is ArcMap ~ ArcINFO 10 SP1 (could not go to SP2 because of all the issues it had, waiting on 3 to be released this Fall).

Once while searching for answers I did find a reported BUG and NIM, but for resolution it said DECLINED. I have never seen that as an answer before. If I had not shown it to a co-worker, I think I would have imagined it, since I have not been able to find that thread again.

Download the parcel polys and parcel lines and put them in an SDE database that is edited in a Version. Start Editing and Select the Parcel Lines (ROW) from the Feature Template, then Select the Trace tool. Then attempt to trace a polygon. It may flicker and look like it might start, it may snap or it may not snap, then follow a polygon and watch nothing happen.

Feel free to email me at naomi.paul@co.gaston.nc.us

~Naomi

Re: Trace tool in Create Features randomly(?) not working - Help!

NAOMIPAUL — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 16:27:25 GMT

Also check the how the Snapping toolbar has effects on the Trace tool, as well as the various Snapping tools.

The one thing about RANDOM, it doesn't have a pattern.

Re: Trace tool in Create Features randomly(?) not working - Help!

BrettDavies — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 04:28:51 GMT

I have just started compiling a new map and until this morning the trace tool worked - although it always took a long time to 'activate'. The number of polygons has been growing, although at around 200 there aren't that many. I do have several raster layers open that I use (in part) in the compilation.

Now the trace tool has simply stopped working again, as I described in the initial post. It looks like it just creeps up on you; maybe it's related to the number of polygons and layers open, although closing layers once it has stopped working doesn't restore the functionality.

This is very aggravating especially as I have to present at a meeting interstate later this week and this problem is throwing significant progress into serious doubt. Note thatI am working with geodatabase feature classes, not shape files.

It does not appear to be related to size of adjacent polygons, nor whether snapping is enabled or not.

Chris, if you are still there, I will try to send you the polygon file later today (it's on another machine) to see whether you can reproduce the issue.

Re: Trace tool in Create Features randomly(?) not working - Help!

JohnSobetzer — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 12:26:40 GMT

This may also be present in 10.1 although one case hardly proves it. I rarely use 10.1 for editing since I much prefer 9.3.1 for that, but I have used the trace tool on 10.1 a few times and twice ran into issues with it that surprised me. If I had seen this thread I would have explored the matter more. As it was in one case the cut polygon tool trace along another shapefile polygon just stopped and no matter what I did I couldn't get it to continue past that point. I zoomed in some to see what the problem was but it didn't help. After several failures I just did it on my 9.3.1. In the second case, well that's so weird I'd have to test it again to believe it.

Re: Trace tool in Create Features randomly(?) not working - Help!

ChrisFox3 — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:53:47 GMT

Yes, please do send the data if you are able.

Chris, if you are still there, I will try to send you the polygon file later today (it's on another machine) to see whether you can reproduce the issue.

Re: Trace tool in Create Features randomly(?) not working - Help!

AZendel — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:35:05 GMT

I am experiencing this too. Yesterday the trace tool worked. Today it doesn't. Same MXD, same map layers. Source polygons are in SDE, target polygons in a personal geodb. 10.0, sp2

Re: Trace tool in Create Features randomly(?) not working - Help!

JoeChampagne — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 20:49:04 GMT

I thought I would contribute an issue I've run into that might be related to some of those described in this thread. I've found that templates, snapping and the 'Trace' tool simply will not work on any layers that have definition queries applied. I've run into this on many occasions and found that removing the definition queries from those layers will make them 'targetable' by those editing features again. This may also apply to other editing tools, but these are the main ones that seem to be affected.

I'm not sure if this is the intended functionality for these features, nor if this will fix all of the issues described in this thread but it's nonetheless an important quirk to be aware of for anyone who does any kind of feature editing. I hope this saves some frustration!

Re: Trace tool in Create Features randomly(?) not working - Help!

ChrisMartinez — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:08:16 GMT

Been having the same issue for a while. I can generally trace for a while, days even, then poof. Once it stops, I can't get it to trace anything anymore. I'm running ArcView 10sp 2 with my features stored in a file geodatabase. It happens while tracing lines or polygons. One thing that I have noticed is this: if I zoom out too far or pan around too quickly, it can trigger this issue.

Re: Trace tool in Create Features randomly(?) not working - Help!

SandiStroud — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 12:35:54 GMT

Has anyone gotten feedback on this yet! I'm in the middle of a major editing project for school boundaries and need this tool to work. There are two of us using this in a versioned editing environment and it stopped working all the sudden yesterday at the same time for both. I now can not get it to work; it will reshape with any other functionality but not tracing.

Help please

10.0 sp2

Re: Trace tool in Create Features randomly(?) not working - Help!

MarkBoucher — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:15:10 GMT

... use the trace tool to generate infill polygons. ...

If you can use the topology rules and tools, you can save yourself a lot of time filling in the gaps.

Re: Trace tool in Create Features randomly(?) not working - Help!

DaveVachet — Thu, 10 May 2012 11:41:35 GMT

I have had a similar problem recently with the trace tool working fine for days and weeks, and then simply not working at all.

Yesterday, it stopped working in the middle of an edit session. A reboot did not fix the problem as it did in the past.

Then, I selected the trace tool and did a right click and chose "Trace Options". I noticed then that the "Trace selected features" check box was not active. I activated it, and things worked fine.

The larger question for the ESRI mods would be why is the "Trace selected features" check becoming unchecked on its own? Therein lies the bug??

Hope this helps!

Dave Vachet

Re: Trace tool in Create Features randomly(?) not working - Help!

LauraMiles1 — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 14:09:15 GMT

I'm having the same issue in 10.1. I noticed while working in a previous geodatabase, after starting a trace by clicking on a vertex it was then necessary to somehow change the extents (either by zooming in or out or panning) in order for the trace tool to start working. Now I'm working in a different (file) geodatabase, and I've been tracing polygons for several days now without the previous issue, but I tried to start up again this morning and the tool simply does not trace anything. There is nothing I've done differently between yesterday evening and this morning - it just stopped working with no rhyme or reason. I've rebooted Windows to no effect. It's not an issue of tracing selected items either as I haven't been selecting the items I wanted to trace (not practical for my project - but I tried that as well and it doesn't work either).