Topology

[FauziaWilliam]

Am I understanding correctly that Topology rules cannot be created and used unless working in a geodatabase (personal or file)????

I am working with just shapefiles that have multiple polygons that overlap, and I would like to set up some topology rules that will lighten the clean up job.

Should I bring over the shapefiles into a geodatabase in order to use the Topology???

[DeniseKing]

Hi,

To take advantage of advanced editing functionality, such as topology,  you will need to import the shapefile into a geodatabase as a feature  class. Topology editing is supported at ArcEditor and ArcInfo license levels of ArcGIS.

Fundamentals of editing
  http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//001t00000001000000.htm
  
  An overview of topology in ArcGIS
  http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#/An_overview_of_topology_in_ArcGIS/0062...
  
  Topology basics
  http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#/Topology_basics/

Cheers,
Denise

[FauziaWilliam]

Thank you very much for replying so quicklyI did figure that out after a little research.  At a previous job I used the topology tool frequently and we even had a generic tool we pulled out to validate the topology.  You pointed out licensing that allows that.  I am waiting on the IT dept. to verify that we do not have that licensing.  We do use ArcEditor.

Although I was able to create topology in a personal geodatabase; when I pull it into ArcEditor I get an error once I attempt to zoom in or out to look at the validation results..  What I want to do is just pull in the shapefile, clean it up (I just need one rule - polygons must not overlap), and then export it back out because all of our records are stored as shapefiles as of now; we have not yet utilized geodatabases (file or personal).

Thanks

[TiffanyPuett]

If you open ArcMap and at the top it says "[name of map document] - ArcMap - ArcView" you have an ArcView License.  You cannot create or edit GDB topology with this.  It must say ArcEditor or ArcInfo in place of ArcView.

Also the feature class must be in a feature dataset. IE it can't be stand-alone.

One more thing you may want to consider is "Must not have gaps" depending on the continuity of the data.  If it is continuous you will only have one gap around the outside boundary of the feature class.  That's great if you only have one, but where you find overlaps, you typically find gaps!

[TiffanyPuett]

Almost forgot, what does the error say?

[FauziaWilliam]

The error reads:

One or more layers failed to draw:

005tesst: Syntax error (missing operator) in query expression '(005tesst.OBJECTID = 005tesst_Shape_Index.IndexedObjectId and MaxGX >= 15821395 and MinGX <= 16043471 and MaxGY >= 879663 and MinGY <= 1050186)'.
005tesst: General function failure [005tesst]


Yes I do see ArcEditor on the top. Yes it is in a feature dataset inside a personal geodatabase in a temp file. The data does have gaps but for my purposes the gaps are alright because this is all based on old and new survey information and filling gaps will jeopardize the validity of the data. My main concern is overlapping polygons.

So I am able to create the feature class, create new topology for it, but when I bring it into ArcEditor I am not able to work with the feature class. Like I can't even zoom in without the error. Could I have done something wrong when creating the components?

Thanks to everyone for your help, it's really appreciated!

[TiffanyPuett]

Perhaps. 

There are many reasons why things fail to draw in ArcMap.  I'll name a few and see if anything rings a bell.

-if your data is being sent across a network and it has a hiccup or goes down.
-if you label from a joined table and the table is missing from the mxd or missing its data source.
-if you have a table joined and it is missing its data source.

You may try recreating the GDB and featuredataset.  Create a blank poly featureclass and import the fields and spatial reference from the shapefile to ensure nothing gets lost from the SHP to the GDB FC.  Then use the simple object loader in Catalog to load the data (right-click the FC>load).  You'll be able to see the errors if anything fails.

Verify that you have same number of features in both the SHP & GDB FC.  Then load to topology and make sure you edit it a new mxd.  Sometimes it may just be a matter of a corrupt mxd.

Are you using 10?  Let me know if that helps.

[FauziaWilliam]

Yes I am using 10.

I will be recreating on Monday so I will post again on Monday.  I think recreating the way you suggested will do the trick. 

Thanks a ton!