Sort GP tool — Intended use case for sorting SHAPE field?

[Bud]

ArcGIS Pro 3.2.1

The documentation mentions that the Sort tool can be used to sort the SHAPE field:

Feature classes can be spatially reordered, or sorted. The Shape field must be used as the sort field for spatial sorting. There are a number of spatial sort methods that arrange the features differently based on their location.

What is the intended use case for sorting a SHAPE field?

And what does the tool do? For example, with points, does it sort on Y, then X, as if the X and Y were number fields in the attribute table?

[DanPatterson]

The first 4 sorting options allow for directionality options

Upper left : sort from N-S, W-E

Upper right Sort from N-S, E-W

Lower left : sort from S-N, W-E

and Lower right:  sort from S-N, E-W

peano  reason given, plus the developer could implement it.

Missing options

radial sort from extent centroid

distance sort within the first 4 options

plus others

[ChrisUnderwood · Accepted solution]

Hello @Bud , does the Help page "How the Sort tool works" answer your What does the tool do question ?

https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/tool-reference/data-management/how-sort-works.htm

For What is the use case, it also offers "Once sorted spatially, efficiency of spatial or geometric operations is enhanced."