I need to find if connected pipes have a change in material.. how best to do this?

Question

For a task I have, I need to find if the material changes between pipes. I.e. if 2 segments have the same material, I don't flag them, but if the material between two segments changes, I flag them. I don't want to do this manually, but I'm not sure an automated method for doing this exists in ArcMap so I will may end up having to write a script. Before I do that, I wanted to see if anybody knows a simpler way of doing this. I'm sure I'm not the first to have faced this problem.

Thank you!

ChrisDonohue__GISP · Answer

If the data is in a line feature class and there is a field attributed by material type, one can run a Dissolve specifying the material type field as the dissolve field to create a layer with lines with consistent material.  This dissolved feature class can then be symbolized by Material type to spot the changes.  Alternately, if one has an Advanced ArcGIS license level, one can run Feature Vertices to Points on the Dissolved feature class, specifying Both Ends , to create a point layer which can then be symbolized to show the change locations.

ArcGIS Help (10.2, 10.2.1, and 10.2.2) - Dissolve (Data Managment)

Feature Vertices To Points—Data Management toolbox | ArcGIS Desktop

Note that this assumes the data is coincident, i.e. pipe segment ends touch each other cleanly (no gap or overlap).  If the pipe segments are not coincident, you will need to employ Topology and Editing to make their ends coincident.

Chris Donohue, GISP