Calculate geometry returning 0 for area

[DanaSquire]

Hi, I'm trying to calculate area for polygons in several layers.  The layers were in a GCS, so I used Project and converted them to a PCS (NAD83 (US feet), state plane Virginia North).   Then when I add an area field and try to calculate the area, I get 0s for acres and a bunch of .000002s for square feet.  Any ideas?

[MichaelVolz]

I have never had to perform this operation before, but maybe you should save the layer to disk in the new projected coordinate system.  Then try calculating the area on the new layer instead of the reprojected original layer.

[FabianBlau]

Maybe the coordinate system of the dataframe is used?
Set it to your projected coordinate system and try again.
Have a look at:
http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#/Calculating_area_length_and_other_geom...

[MelitaKennedy]

Hi Dana,

Just a double check, but you used the Project tool and not the Define Projection tool? So you have two copies of the data--one in a geographic coordinate system and one in a projected coordinate system. The very small values sound like the data is still in lat/lon.

Melita