topic Re: Topology AddIn Guinea Pig wanted in Public Safety Questions

Topology AddIn Guinea Pig wanted

TimWitt2 — Wed, 19 Apr 2017 15:00:37 GMT

Hey everybody,

On a monthly basis I create a bunch of topologys to make sure that my polygon layers don't overlap or have gaps (ESN). I also run a topology on my street layer to find street segments that aren't snapped. This process consists mostly of models.

Since I always try to help my Public safety brethren, I figured I compile my process in a Python AddIn, that "should be easy to use". I started a day ago and have the skeleton of the AddIn finished and now I am looking for a Guinea Pig (I am looking at you Chris Donohue, GISP & Joe Borgione ) to use it!

Latest Update:

- Created an official document: Topology Check Python AddIn (6/30/17)

- Added Error message when the wrong feature is chosen for certain Checks (i.e. polygon feature is chosen for dangle check)

- Now works with ArcGIS Desktop Standard

- Latest test version that includes a polygon break check. This check make sure that your line features are broken when they intersect with a polygon feature. Just select the line feature and polygon feature in the TOC and run the check.

Dropbox - TopoAddIn.esriaddin 10.3.1 + version

Here is what you need:

ArcGIS Desktop Standard 10.3.1 or later versions

Here is how it works:

1. You would download the add in HERE. (10.1 version HERE )

2. Double click it and install it.

3. Open an MXD and add a polygon layer and a street layer.

4.The toolbar should be there but if it is not click on Customize -> Toolbars -> TopoCheck

5. Follow the steps in the screenshot!

As I said it is still a work in progress, especially the street dangle check.

Let me know what you think!

Tim

Re: Topology AddIn Guinea Pig wanted

JoeBorgione — Wed, 19 Apr 2017 15:18:05 GMT

I'm in. Let me download it and I'll give it a spin sometime today! Thanks Tim!

timw1984‌ cdonohue_roseville‌

Re: Topology AddIn Guinea Pig wanted

JoeBorgione — Wed, 19 Apr 2017 18:49:48 GMT

I took a quick test drive earlier today, and so far it's pretty darn cool. What I like most about it is the fact that I can find topololgy issues in my enterprise geodatabase without the overhead of creating a feature dataset and subsequent topology; imho, feature datasets within an enterprise geodatabse should be avoided at all costs.

The add-in creates actual feature classes out of the errors, so for example, I got a points feature class of street dangles. We all know what a 'should not have dangles' topology looks like; you can't tell the legitimate dangles of cul-de-sacs from actual problems. I selected all my freeways and then selected just those dangle points that intersected the selected freeways; in about 10 minutes I had a dozen or so dangles on my freeways and ramps fixed that I had no idea about. I also spatially joined the non-freeway errors to my Cities polygon feature class, so the individual city-editors can quickly review just those points within their respective borders. Slick.

I'll be correcting some dispatch response polygon errors next, and if it goes as easy as the first trial, it should be a piece of cake.

Tim- I'll send you a follow up email with some "it would be even cooler if it could do this" notes in the next few days. Thank you a million times over for developing it and giving me the opportunity to try it.

Chris- You gotta try this!

timw1984‌ cdspatial‌

Re: Topology AddIn Guinea Pig wanted

TimWitt2 — Wed, 19 Apr 2017 18:58:29 GMT

Joe,

the latest version should dramatically cut down on the "false dangles".

I can't wait to see your wishlist

Tim

Re: Topology AddIn Guinea Pig wanted

TimWitt2 — Thu, 20 Apr 2017 12:42:29 GMT

Another quick update:

The new dangle tool is very Memory heavy when you have 50k+ road network. I had to close my 10 google chrome tabs and then it would work. Before it would crash my ArcMap.

Re: Topology AddIn Guinea Pig wanted

TimWitt2 — Thu, 20 Apr 2017 14:40:46 GMT

Latest update added some dialogue pop ups when you run a check.

Re: Topology AddIn Guinea Pig wanted

ChrisDonohue__GISP — Thu, 20 Apr 2017 14:51:39 GMT

Sounds cool. I'll give it a look, but unfortunately I'm on 10.2.1, so it may blow up due to version differences (the City has been holding off upgrading due to many other systems that connect to GIS that are not compatible with the newer versions of GIS, like ArcFM).

Chris Donohue, GISP

Re: Topology AddIn Guinea Pig wanted

ChrisDonohue__GISP — Thu, 20 Apr 2017 15:24:41 GMT

The AddIn came in easily and looks good, but unfortunately no luck on getting it to work. I tried some test data in a File Geodatabase which was purposefully altered to have gaps and overlaps, but didn't get any results from running the AddIn tool. There was not any errors or other feedback, just no results.

I suspect it may be the ArcGIS version differences of 10.3.1 vs 10.2.1, i.e. the Python version associated with each version of ArcGIS has some critical difference (I'm still in the stone ages (10.2.1)).

I guess for now add that as a potential limitation for users.

Chris Donohue, GISP

Re: Topology AddIn Guinea Pig wanted

TimWitt2 — Thu, 20 Apr 2017 15:41:29 GMT

Sad to hear that cdspatial‌

Could you give this one a try? Dropbox - TopoAddIn.esriaddin

Re: Topology AddIn Guinea Pig wanted

ChrisDonohue__GISP — Thu, 20 Apr 2017 15:44:24 GMT

I'll give that a try.

Chris Donohue, GISP

Re: Topology AddIn Guinea Pig wanted

HeatherWidlund — Thu, 20 Apr 2017 16:33:52 GMT

Hi Tim,

Your thread popped up in the summary GeoNet email today. I've downloaded and run your add-in a few times on our ESN and roads data. This is such a sweet tool, and will help a great deal with our multi-agency integrated public service data. I like the dialogues - you could even add the error count to them. It would also be great if you could designate a location for the scratch workspace, but it works fine as is. I will definitely keep up with this thread and I really appreciate you developing and sharing the tool! ETA: I'm on 10.4.1

Thanks,

Heather

Re: Topology AddIn Guinea Pig wanted

ChrisDonohue__GISP — Thu, 20 Apr 2017 16:42:36 GMT

Got some results this time. When run, the tools chug away and the classic "Not Responding" shows up, but then it finishes out after several seconds.

Tool runs:

Check for Overlaps - worked when run on parcels with an intentional overlap. Looks good.

Check for Gaps - no results for output feature class GapErrors_poly when run on parcels with gaps, but did get the parcels gaps correctly depicted as lines in GapErrors_line output (purple lines below).

Check Line Segments - DangleErrors output correctly found two dangles that were close to other lines, but missed dangles that were far from other lines. Could be a just be a tolerance setting, though.

Unfortunately, no results for OverlapErrors_line output despite the intentional addition of line overlaps to the street test data.

Note - I made some assumptions when running these, which may influence the results:

1. The tools ran without being in Editing Mode for the selected feature class, which I assume is OK. If instead it is assumed that the user is in Editing Mode for the feature class being checked, let us know.

2. I didn't worry about whether the layers selected to run a tool on were set as specifically Selectable.

3. Ran the tools on test feature classes in a File Geodatabase. Did not try them on Versioned data.

Also, the bane of all software development, a feature request Is there a way to change the default location the output feature classes get written to? At the moment the seem to be going to a new geodatabase added to the C: drive. Not a critical request, but it would be nice to be able to save it to a few levels further out in the C: drive.

Looking good,

Chris Donohue, GISP

Re: Topology AddIn Guinea Pig wanted

TimWitt2 — Thu, 20 Apr 2017 17:09:25 GMT

Chris,

glad it gave some results! For you (10.1 to 10.2) I removed the dialogue box that will tell the user that the tool is running via a progress bar. Apparently this feature became available starting 10.3.

It is funny I already started thinking of improvements for the tool and they would address your issues

1) Add another button to find overlaps of lines (which will make sure that street segments are broken at intersection. You would probably get "false" overlap errors in case of an overpass)

2) You and HeatherW‌ had the same request, which is a great idea. I'll have to figure out how I can in cooperate the functionality of the user being able to choose where the geodatabase goes.

3) At the moment the dangle tolerance is set to 1 foot, maybe add a combo box to let the user choose the feet? The way it works at the moment is, it buffers (1 foot) around each dangle and if it the circle hits the street more than once, it is a valid dangle. By changing the radius it would have probably popped up the one in your picture. At the same time we don;t want to make the radius too big.

Again thanks for the feedback. This will be a work in progress!

Tim

Re: Topology AddIn Guinea Pig wanted

ChrisDonohue__GISP — Thu, 20 Apr 2017 17:43:29 GMT

No problem. Thanks for sharing the tool and being willing to adapt it. That said, if it turns out rearranging it to make it work for older versions is a total pain, don't worry about modifying it. Most folks seem to be on newer versions. I suspect it took a ton of time to get this to where it is at now, so no need to rebuild the world to make it match the limitations of older software.

Keep up the good work,

Chris Donohue, GISP

Re: Topology AddIn Guinea Pig wanted

TimWitt2 — Thu, 20 Apr 2017 18:06:13 GMT

No worries Chris, all I need to do is remove the dialog box. Everything else stays the same.

Re: Topology AddIn Guinea Pig wanted

TimWitt2 — Fri, 21 Apr 2017 14:12:14 GMT

This is what I am currently working on.

I am still trying to figure out how I can force the user to only choose a folder and not anything else.

Re: Topology AddIn Guinea Pig wanted

Anonymous User — Fri, 21 Apr 2017 15:35:31 GMT

Do you have access to the os module?

Not sure how you get this to work within the dialog but could throw an error message and force retry if they don't select a directory?

import os
if os.path.isdir(v_path):
return True
else:
return False

Re: Topology AddIn Guinea Pig wanted

TimWitt2 — Fri, 21 Apr 2017 15:58:26 GMT

Anthony,

I am using the OpenDialog module found here: The pythonaddins module—Help | ArcGIS Desktop

I also have access to the os module. I am still trying to figure out the filter option.

Re: Topology AddIn Guinea Pig wanted

TimWitt2 — Fri, 21 Apr 2017 17:42:42 GMT

I was able to figure it out, thanks!

Re: Topology AddIn Guinea Pig wanted

Anonymous User — Mon, 24 Apr 2017 10:06:59 GMT

Nice, the OpenDialog module looks really handy.

I'm sure I can use that for a few things here!