Tool that disperses lines for overlapping routes.

[JasonHrabe]

We create the map symbology and ArcGIS Server service for our transit department.  There are ~ 20 to 25 routes.  Along certain busy locations, there can be as many as 9 routes that overlap.  Currently we use line offsets to make sure that all routes are visible.  This can be tricky, since changing the offset to make a line visible in one location can make it disappear behind another line in a different location, causing a domino effect.  It has been suggested to me to use cartographic representations, but we can't do this since we are not the owners of the data.  It also doesn't fix the bigger problem of addressing route changes/additions.  Since bus service is expanding here, routes are occasionally moved or added, causing us to do a lot of symbology work.  I would like to see a tool that disperses line symbology where there are coincident routes, but leaves it as is (on the centerline) when it is the only route.

[chaimschwartz1]

This is a huge must for us too, and one important advantage of competing transportation-oriented-gis software.

[Anne-MarieGintberg1]

Yes, go for it. Its a big issue for us too. We do have a lot of suggestions for hiking routes, with many overlapping parts. 

[ErnestoCarreras2]

It is also huge for us at our Transit Department. We have to deal with the same issues as described by @JasonHrabe 

[wayfaringrob]

Yes, I could also see this being useful for trail data -- with a sidepath, for example, that may be mapped in or parallel to the ROW, allow it to cheat to the side as needed. Would probably need to take scale into account for the correct offset at each level. It's like the inverse of clustering -- rather than combining features at smaller scales, make them more distinct.

Sometimes our office will make a copy of the layer and name it *_carto, but again - this relies on manual editing that is not always practical nor possible.