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

[BrettDavies]

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.

[NAOMIPAUL]

I have been waiting on a patch or fix in a Service Pack since September 30, 2011. ESRI was able to reproduce the issue and was trying to identify the bug was the last I heard. It's been almost a year.

[Anonymous User]

This is happening to me as well.  It is extremely frustrating.  In my case, it is not working with a FC in a personal geodatabase.  I was just using the trace tool on the same FC earlier and it decided to randomly stop working.  I have even copied all the layers into another MXD and still no luck.

I have found a work around, but it is a little annoying.  If you select the feature you are trying to trace click on edit > copy > paste.  This will allow you to paste the outline of the feature in the target data set by using the drop down list.  Hopefully this will save some frustration for others.  If someone finds out how to fix the trace problem please post!!!

[JosephKnieriem]

Just came across this thread.  Experiencing the same issue with ArcGIS 10.1.  I've never had any issues with 10.0 and for the first several weeks of using 10.1, but just ran into this today.  The target layer was a feature class in a File Geodatabase.

[MaríaPortilla]

I found a work-around:

Open a new blank map document, bring in only the layer you want to reshape and the layer you use to trace. Start editing, do the trace edit, save & stop editing, and exit. (No need to save the map document.)

When you go back to your original map where you are doing your edits, the trace tool should work again.

I'm using Arc 10.0 sp4.

[DavidWright3]

I have been having a similar, but slightly different problem for over 1 year now. I have been digitizing soil maps from Africa and when I use the trace tool to make adjacent polygons, the cursor frequently flies off the screen to another vertex and I absolutely cannot get it to detach from that vertex and trace the line. The cursor is literally "stuck" to another polygon's vertex and when I try to break it free, it will float around, but it will not trace the line I have selected.

I teach at a university in South Korea and we called the ESRI technician out to look at the issue, and, predictably, could not get the problem to replicate in the 10 minutes he was slotted to be here. The problem seems to happen, as other posts indicate, randomly and after I have been working for a while. My research assistant and I will reboot the computer, and if that doesn't work, we turn off the computer, go for lunch and come back and get about 30 minutes of work in before it starts happening again.

I am a scientist. I believe in data reproducibility--not magic, gremlins or karma--but this is literally the craziest thing that I have ever seen from ArcGIS (and that is saying a lot). I have used ArcGIS since the mid 90s, and since the trace tool was developed, I have never had a problem like this.

David Wright
Department of Archaeology
Seoul National University
Seoul, South Korea

[KateLongley-Wood]

I am having the same issues on Arc 10 sp5 (I had the problem starting with sp3).  Has anyone found any way to resolve this issue?  It worked fine for a while and then completely stopped working and I haven't been able to find a work around.  This is really impeding the progress of a project I'm working and I'm at my wit's end.

[KateLongley-Wood]

I connected with a support technician on this issue and they are logging it as a bug [#NIM088006] if anyone's interested.  Good to get that in the system but not super helpful in terms of completing my project.  Any suggestions for work-arounds?

[kentrichardson]

Workaround: use shapefiles instead of database files.

I am using v10.1. Myself and colleagues have encountered the problem where 'Trace' does not work consistently while tracing polygons in a GDB. Today it would not work at all, even after creating a new mxd and restarting Windows and cleaning my temp folder. I converted the polygons we are tracing to shapefiles and now the 'Trace' tool is working again. The polygons I am creating are still in a GDB. I will update if this also stops working.

[MarlonVillegas]

Hi everyone. I've experienced the same problem, and the polygon feature that I'm editing is a shapefile. The workaround that I've used:

1.  Open a blank ArcMap session.
2.  Add the polygon shapefile that you want to use for tracing.
3.  Start editing. From the "Feature Construction" toolbar, click the "Straight Segment" tool to start with the first point.
4.  Then click the "Trace" tool and click for the second point. (Switching the "Edge Snapping" on in the Snapping Toolbar will help
     you to see the cursor jump to the edge of the polygon that you are tracing).

This should work 'coz it resolved my problem. By the way, don't mixed up your Table of Contents with File Geodatabase, or SDE features. The "Trace" tool won't work. All the features should be in shapefile if you want to use the other features as a reference. You can convert the completed shapefile into File Geodatabase or in SDE afterwards.

[JoshuaTrygg]

I am also experiencing this problem while attempting to use Cut Polygon with the Trace tool. I am using 10.1 SP1 with data in a file geodatabase.

For me Trace will work on some polygons, but not others or will work on part of a polygon, but stop partway through. Even when it fails on one polygon, it may work perfectly on a different polygon afterwards (but still continue to fail on the original polygon). Once the tool has failed I can sometimes (very rarely) get it to work again by repeatedly clicking on the trace feature. I've had better luck doing what others have done - zoom way in and/or pan around (better success with zooming). Even that is totally hit or miss though, not to mention incredibly frustrating and tedious. Sometimes if I zoom way in on a certain section and get past it, I can zoom back out and continue normally. There really doesn't seem to be much discernible pattern in it.

I have not tried converting everything to shapefiles as suggested by others.

Kate's bug report from back in January (NIM088006) currently shows a status of "Declined", which I can only assume means that Esri has chosen not to deal with it. Considering this problem has been unresolved for years, I'm not holding my breath for a real solution, but it would sure be nice.