I have two sets of polylines or the same data as polygons, some long and a few shorts, I want a single output that combines the shorts to the longs.
Shorts can only be combined once, Longs may have many shorts connected to them
To re-ask the question I have two polyline files.
One is 84,171 records the other is 4,944 records. All are street segments.
When I am done I want a single feature class of the same 84,171 records, but with the 4,944 records added to a connecting, or a bisecting record. I believe that all 4,944 records either touch or cross or are within 2 feet of one in the larger feature.
I am starting with polylines, but if the solution is to buffer the lines and combine polygons, that will not hurt the larger project.
I know that snapping will work, but, in moving the lines the snapped lines become severely inaccurate. For example, streets no longer cross at 90 degrees and slant in ways that cause more confusion.
Some background. I started with a single polyline feature of street segments. Segments were from 0.003 feet to several thousand of feet in length.
The goal is to join activity along street lengths to the street and compare activity counts. It is meaningless to compare activity along street lengths that vary that much. I considered normalizing the data. One count on a 0.003 foot length becomes 33333 or so per 100 feet. A confusing thought to begin with and impossible to symbolize in a way that is both visible and meaningful.
Using a fairly involved process I joined all lengths into in single lengths based on street names. I then split them into 500 foot segments. There is a 1 in 500 change that any given street is exactly divisible by 500. my new single feature had lengths from 0.003 feet to no more than 500 feet. . I chose to divide that feature into two features. 84,171 I now call standard streets, 100-500 feet in length and the rest; 4,944 less than 100 feet.
I now want to re join the short lengths to a nearest standard length and have a almost all of the city streets accounted for and in a narrow range of lengths such that activity can be compared.
