How to change vertices from NaN to measures in a polylineZM feature?

[JustinSaarinen]

Hello, I am in ArcPro trying to express (or edit) the M value in the vertices of a PolylineZM feature. The vertice editor shows 'NaN' still, and the M and Z are greyed out. So when I extract the vertices as points from the polyline and attempt to calculate the M geometry into a new field, I get <Null>.

I used to be able to do this in ArcMap in the sketch properties as described in this help doc: Editing a vertex's m-value or z-value—Help | ArcGIS for Desktop 

[Robert_LeClair]

Have you tried the Add Geometry Attributes geoprocessing tool?  There are various Point_M values that can be calculated.

[Scott_Harris]

Hi Justin,

In the Edit Vertices grid, you can click on the "NaN" and change it to whatever m-value it should be. What specific functionality did you need?

Linear Referencing editing is on the ArcGIS Pro Roadmap. You will see more options for editing M-values coming in the next release (2.6).

Thanks,

Scott

[JustinSaarinen]

Hi Scott, thanks for the reply and follow up question. I have a big polylineZM dataset of routes and need to populate the Measure geometry in the vertices (The z is already there) so that I can extract and the compare the Z and M. Pretty classic elevation profile. Is there functionality in ArcPro to do this yet? 

[Scott_Harris]

Hi Justin,

I think I understand. For now, you can run the Create Routes geoprocessing tool to get a route layer with m-values populated: 

Create Routes—Help | Documentation 

In the next release of Pro, you will be able to use the Edit Vertices tool > select an m-enabled feature > right click on it and use the Set As Distance command (same as in ArcMap: Setting measures as distance—Help | Documentation )

Does that help?

Thanks,

Scott

[JustinSaarinen]

Thanks Scott, I’ll give it a try ASAP. 

So you recommend this tool to set the M coordinates (station measure along the length) of the existing vertices (currently NaN) in an polylineZM feature class in order to calculate M geometry (length) into a new field of the extracted vertices feature class? 

[Scott_Harris · Accepted solution]

Justin,

The Create Routes tool will create a new "route" feature class, which will have the M-values populated in the geometry. As far as getting those m-values from the geometry to the attributes - I would look into using the Add Geometry Attributes tool that Robert LeClair‌ mentioned above. With lines, you can get the start, middle, and end m-values.

Thanks,

Scott

[JustinSaarinen]

Thank you Scott- this worked and I am hoping I can do this for the other 2 million tracks. 

To get the M-Z profile for the vertices of this polylineZM, 1) Create New Route, then 2) Feature Vertices to Points, then 3) Table edit, added two new double fields,'elev' and 'dist' and then 3) Calculate Geometry Attributes (for the M and Z coordinates). 

I suspect this is a common workflow for many.

Thank you taking the time to understand my issue and being available to assist.

cheers, Justin 

[JustinSaarinen]

And yes, Set as Distance is just what I am looking for. I need to do this soon so hope I don’t have to regress back to ArcMap to do it.