auto complete not working correctly

[MennoNijhuis1]

I am digitising a map in ArcMap 10.0 SP 2 with a few hundred polygons. I use auto complete polygons to avoid drawing all the lines twice. I use it using both straight segment and trace (along another layer) to draw the lines.
Most polygons end up right, but some aren't created when I finish drawing. Also when trying again and making sure to go from existing polygons' vertices or crossing polygons' boundaries the polygon won't draw.
A workaround I found is drawing the polygon in parts. But still, one part may draw and the other may not. I then draw even smaller parts and smaller parts until it works. Eventually I fill the polygon with smaller parts (sometimes 2, sometimes 20) and merge them, but it is costing me a lot of time circumventing around unwanted and strange ArcMap behaviour.
I looked up various other posts and errors about auto-complete. The main one if found was about the polygon drawn not being complete visible, but I tried zooming out until I saw the polygon drawn and all the adjacent polygons in full and it still wouldn't draw. Also some polygons will draw regardless of zoomlevel.

Anyone encounter this before and found a (better) way to deal with it?

[MennoNijhuis1]

...huge non-existing polygon around...

I don't exactly understand what you mean, though it might be related to, or be the same as, the problem described above. Could you please post a screenshot or 2 to illustrate what exactly you want to do and what happens?


EDIT: I just found it's now officially a bug, reference number NIM091033, which can be found here: http://support.esri.com/en/bugs/nimbus/TklNMDkxMDMz
There's not much info there though.

[LisaAldrian]

actually I think it is the same problem as mentioned above - I have a big road triangle (donut polygon) around the area - inside this it doesn't work. I split this polygon now for being able to use the autocomplete tool inside - maybe not the most elegant solution but it works for me 😉
thanks for taking the time answering!

[MartinSheridan]

Hey Guys,
I have figured this out.  My project included tracing multiple river islands and sandbars, and 9/10 times my painstaking sketches disappeared using the auto-complete freehand or polygon tools.  I noticed that the 1 polygon out of 10 that was created was a bit messy, i.e. the last line or point crossed the initial line or point where I started the shape.  It seems in order to complete a polygon using these toos, your finishing line has to cross over a portion of where you started.  Then hit F2 or right click and click "Finish Sketch."  Works fine now.  Good luck!


(see image below)


l[ATTACH=CONFIG]28425[/ATTACH]

[DianeMcConnaughey]

I have a problem with auto complete polygon in 10.2.1.  It is in a topology.  The auto complete creates an error / completes incorrectly. Polygons are adjacent to areas outside the polygon, and sometimes those outside areas extend skinny fingers into the polygon, creating a void.  In 9.x and 10.0 I was able to use autocomplete polygon to fill in that "finger".  Now when I try it, it seems to capture all of the void area outside the polygon, not just the "finger"  The only solution I found was to create a new feature with the free-hand or rectangle create feature tool, then merge the new feature into the exsiting polygon.