issues using divide on a polygon

[JoshWhite]

I was using the Divide tool on an irregularly shaped polygon.  I would use equal area and one at a time would divide the feature.  Then I would divide the remainder again.  After about 4 times, the tool doesn't seem to want to divide anymore even though there is still plenty to split off.  I get an error that says Divide Features failed, but with no explanation at all. I couldn't care less what the direction is, I just want to divide the polygon. On a related note, I often have the same issue when using the Split tool.  What i really need is a way to divide a polygon into multiple parts and be able to list what the size should be for each.  Is there such a tool?

[JoshWhite]

Seriously, no response at all?  Doesn't anyone have an idea of how I can divide a polygon besides this tool that does not work?  I need the ability to divide a polygon into unequal parts based on a proportion that I've already calculated?  It appears this tool would work just fine if I wanted the parts to all be equal.  Let me give some background.  I am planning a storm water fee study where the more impervious area a property has, the higher the fee will be.  I am trying to determine the share of impervious area that should be attributed to each address in multi-tenant buildings like a shopping center.  It doesn't seem fair to assign a 2000 sq feet space the same amount of impervious area as a 62,000 sq feet space in the same shopping center.  Has anyone else done a similar project?

[Scott_Harris]

Hi Josh,

Currently, the Divide tool works best with regular-shaped polygons. There should be a warning that comes up if the split line will not intersect with the polygon, like this:

However, at 2.6, a bug is causing this warning to be skipped, allowing Divide to execute and generate the "Divide features failed" error. This will be fixed in the next release of ArcGIS Pro.

I understand this doesn't help in your situation. In your case, if you end up using Divide, you can try to make the polygon more or less regular by splitting the polygon to eliminate concave areas and donut holes. This will require some manual editing probably followed by some merging.

The first thing I would try is to split the polygon here:

Regarding the larger project, if geometry doesn't matter, it's a bit unclear to me why you can't use a related table to store the impervious area percentages for each unit.

Thanks,

Scott

[JoshWhite]

The related table concept is a good one.  I hadn't really got that far into the project yet.  

[MehdiPira1]

Hi Josh White‌

Subdivide Polygon in Data Management tools does the trick and it does not matter if there is a hole in the polygon or not. Split type can be strips (H) or blocks (V).

   

more information:

Subdivide Polygon (Data Management)—ArcGIS Pro | Documentation 

[JoshWhite]

I looked at this one, but the problem is you have to export to another feature class.  It may be my only choice though.

Actually, I tried this and the only option is to make all of the areas equal.  I need them to be different sizes.

[JohnBranum]

Hi Josh.  Same problem for me, but even Subdivide Polygon failed, most likely because my polygon boundaries are organic and very erratic.  My SOLUTION was to Simplify Polygons first, then the Subdivide worked, and with a little trial-and-error on the "simplification tolerance" and the Divide "direction edge", i was able to Divide as well.