Assign topology rules to existing shapefile?

[RileyMulligan]

Hi, I've imported a file into ArcMap 10 and the shapefile consists of polygons, but there are some minor overlaps and some small gaps. Separately, i've created a new geodatabase and topology file, but I don't know how to (or if i can) apply the rules i set in my topology file to the existing shapefile. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Ri

[RichardFairhurst]

Hi, I've imported a file into ArcMap 10 and the shapefile consists of polygons, but there are some minor overlaps and some small gaps. Separately, i've created a new geodatabase and topology file, but I don't know how to (or if i can) apply the rules i set in my topology file to the existing shapefile. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Ri

An actual shapefile (ending in .shp) cannot be used with topology.  It can be copy/imported into the geodatabase you have created and the data would then become a feature class of the geodatabase.  That new feature class can be configured to use the topology rules you have set up and be validated to check for topology errors.