topic Re: Error Message while Using Intersect Tool in Geoprocessing Questions

Error Message while Using Intersect Tool

TomVo — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 15:14:10 GMT

Hello,

I have been receiving error message during intersecting process (picture). I am trying to intersect between these two layers: 1) city boundaries and 2) buffers of those cities. Have anyone face this issue before? Please let me know how to solve it.

Thanks in advance!

Tom.

Re: Error Message while Using Intersect Tool

curtvprice — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 16:27:55 GMT

What are the input and output names? I ask because this looks like file naming may be the culprit - never name anything starting with anything but a letter and only use alphanumeric characters plus "_".

Re: Error Message while Using Intersect Tool

TomVo — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 16:32:52 GMT

input names:

1) scag_2010_blockgroups

2) scag_2010_blockgroups_3mi_bffr_LA

Output name:

1) scag_2010_blockgroups_3mi_bffr_LA_intrsct

Re: Error Message while Using Intersect Tool

SepheFox — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 17:53:48 GMT

There are sveral limitations when using shapefiles as an output, such as field name length. Perhaps one of these is tripping you up?

They are listed here: ArcGIS Desktop

Re: Error Message while Using Intersect Tool

SepheFox — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 18:58:16 GMT

This is only a problem for feature classes, by the way. You can name shapefiles starting with a number.

Re: Error Message while Using Intersect Tool

SepheFox — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 18:59:34 GMT

Oh, just a thought--if the output location of these files is not a GDB, are you adding the .shp to the end of the file name?

Re: Error Message while Using Intersect Tool

TomVo — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 19:19:43 GMT

Sephe,

Thanks for the info. This spatial analysis worked with 1 mile buffer but, for some reasons, it does not work for 3 mile buffer. I've tried to save the output in GDB as well but the problem still exists.

Interestingly, I performed a same procedure (intersect) for a different area with less records and it worked. I am thinking it is because I have too many records after intersecting the two layers? This may be the case..

Re: Error Message while Using Intersect Tool

SepheFox — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 19:41:46 GMT

How many records are there? You can quickly tell by selecting by location the parcels that intersect your buffers.

Re: Error Message while Using Intersect Tool

SepheFox — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 19:47:59 GMT

You might try running the Repair Geometry tool on your layers first, since you're getting a topology error. Also, do any of your layers have M or Z values?

Re: Error Message while Using Intersect Tool

TomVo — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 19:51:01 GMT

Worked:

1) scag_2010_blockgroups (239 records)

2) scag_2010_blockgroups_3mi_bffr_IM (239 records)

Did not work:

1) scag_2010_blockgroups (5697 records)

2) scag_2010_blockgroups_3mi_bffr_LA (5679 records)

At this moment, I am 75% confident that the cause of intersect failure is the size of my shapefile...

Re: Error Message while Using Intersect Tool

TomVo — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 19:51:53 GMT

No, there are no Z or M values.

Re: Error Message while Using Intersect Tool

Sol_Wuensch — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 19:51:54 GMT

Two things stick out to me - 'Invalid topology' and 'out of memory'

Maybe look at these threads

Invalid Topology [OUT_OF_MEMORY]

Dissolve Error 999999 Invalid Topology Out of memory You might want to try using the Repair Geometry tool on your dataset?ArcGIS Help 10.1 Could it have anything to do with multipart features in your parcel data?

ArcGIS 10 Pre-release Intersect Failure on Large Dataset - Make sure your computer is up to minimum requirements

Have you looked in the geoprocessing results window? Perhaps if you look at the messages there is more detailed error information? What about checking the environment variables and inputs there too. Tried turning off Background Geoprocessing?

Re: Error Message while Using Intersect Tool

SepheFox — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 19:53:11 GMT

Hmmm, I don't know. That is not a particularly large amount of records. I regularly do this kind of analysis with 200k records.

Re: Error Message while Using Intersect Tool

TomVo — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 20:35:51 GMT

Sephe and Sol, thank you both for your suggestions.

I am running ArcGIS on a server that has 32gb of RAM. I will repair my geometry and shorten my file path name. It's just weird to me that the same process worked for 1 mile buffer.

Re: Error Message while Using Intersect Tool

SepheFox — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 20:40:03 GMT

Yes, ArcGIS can be quirky in what works and what doesn't sometimes, but one explanation could be that there are geometry problems only in areas outside of those 1 mile buffers. I hope it works, and I'm sorry we hijacked your thread a little with the workings of GeoNet. Let us know!

Re: Error Message while Using Intersect Tool

TomVo — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 20:41:55 GMT

Thanks. Will try and post my results here.

By the way, should i put all my working feature datasets into gdb?

Re: Error Message while Using Intersect Tool

SepheFox — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 20:47:36 GMT

I would. At least that way you can eliminate any of the limitations of working with shapefiles. In fact, when I have run into "memory" issues, I have had some luck with exporting my input data into the same GDB that I'm using for any outputs. That way you're not switching directories. Also, I try not to bury my GIS folders and GDBs too far down in the directory structure--keep them in the root of the C drive preferable. This also prevents long path names. I hope one of our suggestions helps! Sometimes these weird "memory" issues are hard to diagnose.

Re: Error Message while Using Intersect Tool

RakeshSinha — Tue, 21 Apr 2015 09:10:37 GMT

Hi Tom,

I would try the Repair Geometry tool first as everyone else suggested. However, if even that does not do the trick for you do check for ‘Dicing Godzillas’. It occurs with features with too many vertices. Though there is no limit specified for executing a Geoprocessing tool however this error: 999999 which is a generic error is often seen when the vertices exceed 2 million in the features.

Here’s a link for your reference as how you can calculate the number of vertices for your input features.

Dicing Godzillas (features with too many vertices) | ArcGIS Blog

I hope this helps!

Re: Error Message while Using Intersect Tool

TomVo — Tue, 21 Apr 2015 15:10:04 GMT

I tried the 'Repair Geometry' tool but the error still exists. However, i reduced the size of the dataset, it did not give me any error messages.

At this point, I feel it is giving me error message is because my data is exceed that '2 million vertices'. I will go ahead and check out 'Dicing Godzillas' for any solutions..

Thanks,

Tom

Re: Error Message while Using Intersect Tool

TomVo — Tue, 21 Apr 2015 15:25:06 GMT

Rakesh,

I checked my number of vertices; both of my layer have the the MAX of VERTICES less than 2 million. I don't think this is the case.

The short term solution is to reduce the size of the dataset. As in the picture below, there are many overlapping areas created by the buffers.

Maybe the output's data size is too large that the software could not handle...that could also be one of the reasons.