Rubbersheet points to line feature

[MathieuCain]

Hello,

I have a large series of points (originally stations along a station axis) which I would like to rubbersheet to a secondary line feature. Unfortunately, because the original axis was not particularly straight to begin with, creating perpendicular station lines to the secondary line feature did not work as it was some distance removed, by which point station lines were no longer parallel (i.e., criss-crossed or were uneven distance apart along the secondary line).

I was thinking maybe I could transpose only "major" stations and rubbersheet the stations in between along the secondary line. Problem I forsee though is that the secondary line is not always straight between these major stations. Any thoughts on this?

Thanks

[NobbirAhmed]

Give a try to Snap tool in the Editing toolbox (new in 10.0).

Select points as Input Features and lines as Snap Environment. Choose EDGE as Type and 1 Meters (just an example) for Distance.

The points should be snapped to the closest edge.

[MathieuCain]

How would this work? While I am using ArcGIS 10.0 I do not see the specific tool you were referring to, unless you were simply referring to the basic manual snapping toolbar which allows a user to snap to anywhere along a line. I need the points snapped to their specific relative location along the line. The points are also not at a single set distance from the line as the secondary line to which station markers need to be assigned does not run completely parallel to the station axis from which the actual points are derived.

Note: Moving every point manually is not an option as I have over 400,000 points.

Am I missing something obvious?

[NobbirAhmed]

In 10.0, a new toolbox named Editing Tools is added. In that toolbox, you'll find the snap tool. Here is the link:

http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#/Snap/001v00000007000000/

The value you enter in Distance is not a fixed distance rather maximum distance - you can think of this as tolerance. So, any point on either side of your secondary line and within that distance will be snapped to the line at the closest point.

[MathieuCain]

In 10.0, a new toolbox named Editing Tools is added. In that toolbox, you'll find the snap tool. Here is the link:

http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#/Snap/001v00000007000000/

The value you enter in Distance is not a fixed distance rather maximum distance - you can think of this as tolerance. So, any point on either side of your secondary line and within that distance will be snapped to the line at the closest point.

Thanks for the thought, however I am using an ArcView license, not ArcEditor or ArcInfo.

[DanLee]

It is a good idea to create some "displacement links" between major stations and corresponding locations along the secondary lines using the tools on Spatial Adjustment toolbar and then perform rubbersheeting.  This should get your points much closer to the lines.

Then perhaps you can run the Near tool on the adjusted points to obtain NEAR_DIST - distance from point to nearest line. You can then select all points with NEAR_DIST value > 0; can you now start an edit session and set snap option to snap to edge and then snap these points to lines?