Calculating Geometry in ArcGIS Pro extremely slow

[ABishop]

Each time I attempt to calculate geometry for a feature class or shapefile, I experience extreme lag!  It doesn't matter if it is one record or 100 records... it is still slow.  Anybody else experiencing this?

[DanPatterson]

Forgot to mention  SDE is a whole other ball game.

If you are calculating using numeric data, NumPy.  I often find TableToNumPyArray, calculate in numpy, ExtendTable to get the results back in a new field, the fastest.  You could give that a try, I have old blogs on NumPy in the Python community

[SteveKubera]

Amanda, I'm having the same issue calculating geometry.  Just curious did you find a fix to this delay? 

I am also using Pro 2.9...

[ABishop · Accepted solution]

Hello Steve,

At the time of this post I was not able to resolve the issue, but now that I am in ArcGIS Pro 3.0.2, it seems to be much easier.

[GrantDickins_OX2]

Hi. I am on 3.0.3 and I am having the same problem. A simple calculate geometry on 30 simple poly features (right click on the field and calculate geometry) takes 2-3 minutes to process (I just did this now with the same slow performance). It's been like that for 2 years lol...I'm just used to it. It seems to fluctuate in time taken sometimes quick but that is rare, but I have never found a pattern, cause or solution. All my data is local to the PC, data is clean, indexed, I've even regenerated the data, etc. Mostly no other issues to speak of but the calculate geometry is very slow to calculate.

[ABishop]

Hi Grant,

Where does your data reside? (i.e.. file geodatabase, SDE, shapefile, service?)

[GrantDickins_OX2]

HI Amanda,

The data is mostly in (local) file GDBs but the same experience occurs with the few SHPs I have calculated on. I have compacted the GDBs and rebuilt feature class indexes over time, as well.

[GrantDickins_OX2]

For context, I should also add that I have had IT check the PC (high-spec, 2 years old) for any system issues, background app impacts, etc. and really nothing to speak of. I recall running the PAT tool about 18 months ago and all was green and within the limits easily. Thanks.

[ABishop]

Hello Grant,

You didn't mention your method.  Are you attempting the calculate geometry manually?  Have you tried any geoprocessing tools or a python script perhaps?  

This one works well for me for version ArcGIS Pro 3.x

https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/tool-reference/data-management/calculate-geometry-attribute... 

[GrantDickins_OX2]

Hi Amanda,

Yes, I have tried the GP tool - so both manually calculate (i.e. right click the attribute field header) and the GP tool, have the same result. I have not used Python directly - never attempted. For the former methods there is a lag in the process somewhere. Thanks.