Updating Roads shapefile

[RehannaJadoo]

I have two road layers: in one shapefile roads are represented by a single line, and in the other shapefile, which is more current, roads are represented by double lines with centerlines. I would like to keep the shapefile with the single lines but use the more current shapefile to update it. Is there any way to isolate the centerline in the more current shapefile and merge it with the older shapefile to make update quicker and easier?

[ClaudeBanta]

I think a spatial join should do the trick.  Use the single-line shapefile as the target feature and the double-line shapefile as the join feature.  Join one-to-one and keep all target features.  Then use the fieldmap to prune out the fields you don't want.  Here you can remove the old shapefile's columns and instead use the new shapefile's columns in the new layer.
HTH
Claude

[DanLee]

By design, Sptial Join does not update geometry. If you see it does, please let me know.

To extract the centerlines from the new shapefile, you may try the following ideas:
1. If the new centerlines have a common attribute value (such as classification code), you can make a selection and then use Copy Features tool to save them to an output feature class.
2. If the alignment and correspondency is good between the existing single-line features with the newer centerlines, you can try the Select By location tool with the option "within a distance".

I am not sure about the way to replace/update the geometry/shape from one layer to the other. Is it possible that you send some sample data to me? I would like to take a closer look of your case. It may require a future enhancement on our side to automate such a process.

You may try to attach your data in email to me at:  dlee@esri.com

Thanks,
Dan