Densify and exact distance

[JasonThoene]

I'm using the Densify tool in Arc 10 and I'm curious if anyone knows how to get the tool to densify to an exact distance.  Currently, it seems to use the input distance as only a maximum distance, making the resulting distance from vertices less than your input distance.  I want to have my input distance be the exact distance between all vertices (I know that the last vertex will be less).

Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks,

Jason

[DanLee]

Your understanding about the tool is correct. If necessary we can consider an enhancement in the future. But I would like to know the expectations.

When an input is a straightline, you can insert vertices at a specified distance and leave the last segment shorter. But when an input is not a straight line, but a polyline with some vertices, these existing vertices would have to stay; this means that the distance has to be measured from the starting vertex of each segment and may leave a shorter segment before the ending vertex of that segment. Is that the desired result? For example, a polyline has three vertices, i.e. two segments. Let's say the first segment is 120 meters and the second 270 meters. For a 100 meter desification distance, would you expect to get 5 segments in the order of 100, 20, 100, 100, 70 meters?

[JasonThoene]

Hi Dan,

Thanks for responding.  I appreciate it.

Yes, the explanation you gave is what was expecting.  I meant to look up the description for the old densify command in Workstation but realized that I no longer had ArcDoc on my computer because of the install of 10.  If I remember right, the old densify command in Workstation did exactly what you are talking about - add a vertex exactly the specified interval (distance) until the next feature vertex is reached, then start over with the distance at that vertex.  For each segment of the line, the distance would be the one specified for all vertices except the last one.  I think it would be good to have a choice between whether you create vertices the way the tool works now and the way I'm looking for.  I can see advantages to both.

Speaking of ArcDoc, do you know of any way to get it as a stand alone application?  I realize it is quite a bit dated, but there is discussion of tools and concepts within GIS that aren't found anywhere else in quite the comprehensive manner that ArcDoc has.

Thanks for your help!

Jason

[DanLee]

I have checked the arc command DENSIFYARC. You are right, it creates vertices with the exact "interval" as specified, except the last segment. I have shared your request with our team and proposed an enhancement to add an option. Thanks for bringing this up!

Regarding ArcDoc, I am not sure how you can get it without the Workstation ArcInfo installed. I am waiting for an answer from our doc lead and will let you know.

[JasonThoene]

Thanks a lot Dan.  I appreciate your looking into it for me!

Jason

[DanLee]

Sorry it took me a while to track down this answer:

"It is not possible to create ArcDoc to be a standalone application.  This documentation uses an old system which has not been modified for a long time and there are no plans to make further changes."

You might have to find someone who has Workstation Arcinfo to look up the arcdoc content.