Latest Contributions by MarkBoucher

As a Funky Funky Funky ArcGIS Master workaround, could you make a temporary feature in both layers that don't overlap, perform the function and then delete them? ... View more

I just today learned that, with the right ESRI software purchase, you can bring the maps into Excel instead of Excel data into the maps. http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/arcgisonline/apps/esri-maps-for-office ... View more

I've always gathered from training that each geodatabase has two things: (1) a coordinate system defined, and (2) a limited "extent" (N-S,E-W box that defined its "world"). When a geodatabase is initially set up, the coordinate system has to be correct and consideration has to be given to make sure the extent is big enough to contain the work you plan to do. So if your initial setup was too small, you will run into problems when you try to work outside of that extent. To fix this, you can create a new geodatabase and make sure the first data you put into it has the right coordinate system and the extent you need to cover the area you will work on. Then move all your data over to it. Of course, I could be mistaken, but then I rarely have this problem. Most of my work is in a county and I typically bring in a county-wide layer when I first work on a project. ... View more

I don't know about it, but recently someone posted about a tool called Fill Sinks Plus that might help. Here is website for the tool. http://www.lago-consulting.com/fill_sinks_plus.html Works in 10.1 it says. I have 10.0 so can't test it. ... View more

Actually I had the Planarize Lines tool docked to the Editor tool bar, and it didn't work. So I removed it and docked it to the COGO tool bar and it still didn't work. What I should have done was to bring in the Advanced Editing tool bar (with the Planarize Lines tool). It works fine from the Advanced Editing tool bar. I guess if I docked the Planarize Lines tool to a different tool bar, it didn't work. I wouldn't think the where the tool is docked would have anything to do with if/how if functions. Would it? ... View more

I'd stick with geodatabases. Have you made sure the field data types are correct and consistent with the calculations? I believe the integer or real or floating types all work together nicely; they did when I just checked, though I didn't try every operation. I checked if having the precision (number of digits) too short would cause an error. You would think you would get an error, but when I tested it, the calculator ran w/o error and simply shorted the number of digits. I was able to use text field with numbers in it in the equation and Obviously text fields would be a problem. When trying to include a text  the error was ERROR 999999 and the results window specified it at a "type mismatch". It was more specific. Maybe there is a false read/write issue going on. If all else fails, try opening a new mxd, loading just the data needed, and performing the calculations in a fresh session. ... View more

I've heard that data in a geodatabase is more "stable" than data in a shape file. If the data is in a shape file, move it into a geodatabase and see if the calculations work there. ... View more

If your data is on a network, try putting it on your local PC. The processes will run faster. ... View more

To me, a 2x2m grid seems course for creating cross sections for HEC-RAS (RAS). If you are assuming you can burn in the stream before taking cross secdtions, then it seems you could alternatively create the cross sections in RAS with depth and width you want. Ideally your client or company would take the time and budget to survey the river and do a proper job of getting cross sections and elevations (for correct slope - Burning the creek into DEM will not necessarily give you an accurate slope.). If you have topo or LiDAR points, they can be used to create a TIN which is far superior for creating cross sections. Certainly a mining site would have topographic maps. If you have the contours in CAD or GIS, couldn't you convert those to the proper format to create a TIN? You can do the flood analysis without going through ArcMap and GeoRAS. If it is not a really big project, it might be more time/budget efficient to do that assuming you have good topo. My 2-cents. ... View more

May I ask what kind of project you are burning the stream into the DEM for and why the width and depth are important? ... View more

Roy, When you burn streams in a DEM the width is a multiple of the cell size. Therefore, the buffer of 8 cells would give you a width of 16m (or 32 if it buffers both sides) if your river is parallel with the DEM grids. If the river is not parallel with the DEM grids, you will get a different value, possible less than 16m (or 32m). I would have to play around with the details to determine the varying results. I have not used the Arc Hydro tools for creating a channel of specific width and depth. After looking at the soft and hard drops. To define a channel, I would set the soft drop to 0 and the hard drop to the depth I want. I believe the soft drop "rounds" the banks of the channel outside the buffer and the hard drop only lowers the cells w/in the buffer. Mark ... View more

Here are some ideas: Create a new field with the data type and length you want. Using field calculator make the new field equal to the contents of the old field. Confirm the copy was successful and delete the old field. See if that doesn't get around the editing problem. If the field needs to have a specific name create a field with the right field name, and copy the text there and delete the other (temp) field. Spell checking: You can use other tools for spell checking. Below is the "hard way". (I've heard that one can set ArcMap up to use the MS Word spell checker, but I've never gotten far with that and I don't know if that goes beyond checking annotations.) Make a backup of your feature class (just in case). From the attribute table, export the table to a txt file. Open the txt file in Excel using commas separated option for the text to columns. Make sure the sort on the OID, Object ID field is sequential so you can make sure the sorted order in Excel matches that in ArcMap. If not, you can make a new column in Excel and put in sequential numbers (fill series) so you can resort back to the original order. Use the Excel spell checking and filtering tools to correct misspellings. Make sure the rows are sorted in Excel correctly as mentioned in step 4. Select the data in Excel without the column heading, and copy the column (not the entire table) you want to put back into ArcMap. In ArcMap, add a new field with the correct type and length (eg. text with 50 columns). Edit the feature class. Make sure the attribute table sort order in ArcMap has not changed. Put the cursor in top cell of the newest column in the attribute table. Right Click and Paste. This should paste the corrected text back into the attribute table. Check that the corrected field data corresponds to the right rows in the table. Modify the table (delete columns, etc). to meet your needs. ... View more

Are you filling the sinks before you perform flow direction? ... View more

Over time I've collected several "tips" for using Arc Hydro. I summarized them here: http://forums.arcgis.com/threads/48100-ArcHydro-Problem-Solvers?p=270146&viewfull=1#post270146. I have a word version attached at the link. The simplified names is one of the tips. Also, putting the project on your local C: drive eliminates the drag of the network data back-and-forth and speeds up the processing as well as (possibly) reduces transmission errors. I've not used GeoRAS yet, but suspect that any project using geoprocessing will benefit from the tips. ... View more

This is not the most elegant method. But if you already run Arc Hydro, it wouldn't take much to do this for one or two reaches. If you want to perform this for several points, repeat it over and over, or code it, you will want to search further. If you have a flow direction grid, you can use a Arc Hydro toolbar tool that will put a graphical line on the flow path downstream from the point you click. You can then convert that graphic to a feature using the Drawing toolbar menu command. After that you can use other ArcMap tools to measure or trim that polyline to a certain length. ... View more