Latest Contributions by HardolphWasteneys

I tried the !SHAPE.FirstPoint.X! and !SHAPE.FirstPoint.Y! python code after I geocated locations with an X and a Y and I did get results without any error codes.  My results looked like this:   2554640.03118 (latitude), 395983.7615536 (longitude) for all of my addresses that are located in Wisconsin, USA.  However, I am skeptical of using the results because the results for   Latitude(x) were positive instead of negative.   So I am not using what I get from !SHAPE.FirstPoint.X! and !SHAPE.FirstPoint.Y! in version 10 SP1 of ArcGIS.  (In the USA, longitude is negative being west of the Prime meridian, and latitude is positive  as it is north of the equator.) Bonnie, In case you hadn't noticed, the output you quote for lat-long are projected UTM coordinates not degrees of lat and long so they are always positive within the region applicable to the UTM zone (and a lot longer than degrees). To output latitude and longitude just run Field Calculator on the new fields you added as Timothy Hales previously suggested "You can calculate geometry without using the Field Calculator. Right click the field > Calculate Geometry. You can chose the desired geometry and the coordinate system to use." or in other words, just select the Units as decimal degrees from the pull down menu when you activate it. Hardolph ... View more

Hello, I am trying to digitize my city's boundary, but am running into some problem areas. Specifically, line bearings that say '(RAD)'. For example, (RAD) | L84 | S 46-55-40 W | 20 ft & (RAD) | L85 | N 50-44-51 E | 20 ft What does '(RAD)' mean?! It sounds like it would mean 'radius', but it's labeled as a line bearing, hence the the L in L84. Thank you in advance! RAD is short for "Radial".    The bearing gives the direction from the centre of a circular arc to an arbitrary point on the circumference of the bounding curve, thus describing that part of the property boundary.  The "20 ft" in your example is the radius of the arc.   The position of the RAD line on the plan can be either from the center of the arc or even just the propagation of the line on the convex side of the curve so long as it shows the intersection with the boundary usually at the start of the arc, and in a narrative description it would be in sequence after a fixed marker or at the end of a mete. Hardolph ... View more

Bryan, I see you have just replied to my post in the other thread.  As I said there I like to stick to examining the attribute tables for setting up routes rather than relying on the subjectivity of the screen click tools.  If I do use them them I typically monitor the SELECTION tab in the Table of contents to see if I'm selecting the right number of segments and from the right layers. Hardolph ... View more

In Arc 9.3 was was able to construct polygons after changing my parcels line work by merging my polygons and selecting the lines and contruct features.  I have not been able to figure how to do this in Arc 10 and have hunted for answers all over the web.  I am looking for any help on this on as I am stuck. Try the method I outlined here: http://forums.arcgis.com/threads/6786-polyline-to-polygon Replies to that thread indicate it works in 10 as well as 9.3. Or for a more complex method for numerous polylines from different feature classes to numerous polygons see my post in: http://forums.arcgis.com/threads/47793-Editing-Autocomplete-Polygon I use it routinely in ArcView 9.3 to make polygons from mazes of polylines in several feature classes for geological maps. Hardolph ... View more

Tim, I had a similar problem a few years ago in 9.3 after excessive use of the SMOOTH tool in the "Advanced Editing Toolbar" on polylines in a FGDB.  The SMOOTH tool creates geometric curves.  I can't recall all the symptoms of the problem, but it would cause failures to simple merge editing operations (I'd get zero length for the merged feature) in the FC and any other geoprocessing I was attempting.  No error report came up; just the output was negatively affected.   Didn't try TRACING. I first resolved it by running REPAIR GEOMETRY.  I cannot recall if I found anything with CHECK GEOMETRY, but REPAIR GEOMETRY reported self intersecting lines and some null geometry that caused total glitches of the FC in other operations.  Subsequently, I avoided the problem by running the GENERALIZE tool (also in the "Advanced Editing Toolbar") after using the SMOOTH tool on complex polylines, with judicious choice of the offset parameter in order to preserve the curvature of the lines, but as a simpler feature type.   It approximates the geometric curves with short line segments and eliminated small loops that were only visible on screen at extreme zoom. That didn't mean that I could not use SMOOTHed polylines (or polygons) or other true curves in the processing I was doing, but just that I had to be careful with the various true curve generating tools which apparently have potential to create weird geometry in complex individual polyline or polygon features that does not show up at the normal editing scale.  If in doubt I use GENERALIZE with a small offset on complex curves that I need for some other operation. See if REPAIR GEOMETRY works first and preserve your geometric curves; if that isn't sufficient try the GENERALIZE tool on the complex features (similar effect to exporting to shapefile and reimporting).   I'll be interested to hear if it works, and what sort of curves you were using.   Hardolph ... View more

Currently "Autocomplete" only works on features that are stored within a single feature class. Autocomplete should be able to be used across multiple feature class that are stored within the same file geodatabase or feature dataset. We are currently delineating hundreds of thousands of crop fields and farm dams as part of a water allocation project. The boundaries of the crop fields and farm dams share boundaries in multiple instances. We currently store the features within a single feature class in order to use autocomplete, but have to export the dams afterwards into a new feature class in order to run calculations on the features. Any idea if a tool/script could be created using autocomplete across feature class would be appreciated.  Regards Peter, Assuming you are talking about polyline features that you wish to use to create polygons, I routinely use the auto-complete polygon Task to create polygons from multiple feature classes in ArcView 9.3 (also works in 9.2 and 10). This involves copying and pasting the features into a scratch feature class and merging them, then running Auto-complete with a few tricks that don't seem to be documented by ESRI. I've posted variations on the method several times in the General forum and once here. http://forums.arcgis.com/threads/6288-Editing http://forums.arcgis.com/threads/518...5524#post15524 Here's the step by step procedure I use: 1. start by making sure the line segments are either snapped together or overlap and set snapping in the polyline layers that you want to use. Any existing polygons present within the area of interest will create holes in the generated polygon fabric so turn those layers off unless that is what you want. I set up a scratch polyline feature class in the current workspace/geodatabase for temporary use to avoid messing with the originals. 2. select all the polyline segments with the edit tool or just set the layers of interest as selectable and select all (these can be in multiple workspaces/geodatabases as long as they are selectable) 3. set Task: Create New Feature and Target: the scratch polyline Feature Class 4. right click with the edit tool in the work area and hit copy, then right click again and hit paste (this creates a set of unattributed lines in the scratch feature class and deselects the ones selected from the original feature classes; ctrl-c, ctrl-v won't work for this ). 5. In the EDITOR pulldown hit MERGE, and use any of the lines as the one to be merged with. 6. leaving the merged line selected change "Target:" to a polygon layer and "Task:" to "Auto-complete Polygon" 7. using the SKETCH tool allow it to snap to the selected merged line anywhere (do not left click) 8. RIGHT-click and select "replace sketch" from the pull-down menu. 9. all the vertices of all the lines should become highlighted; hit F2 or right-click again and hit Finish Sketch. That will generate a polygon fabric in the target Polygon feature class using any closed polyline features. There will not be any attributes transferred from the polylines; you have to attribute them separately or trnasfer attributes from other features. The Cut Polygon Features task follows a similar procedure. For map display purposes I then overlay the original polylines with their variable symbology as the borders for the polygons. hope that's along the lines of what you are after. Hardolph ... View more

Grant, In that case you need to generate a FROM and a TO field for input using the TWO_FIELDS option under Measure Source.  Do this by adding the fields to your feature class and using field calculator to set the FROM field = 0 and the TO field =  Shape_Length .   That ought to respect digitizing direction in setting the M values of the created routes. Hardolph ... View more

Since I not quite sure what you're after, here' a link to a previous thread that discusses contours and various solutions for polygonizing and systematically symbolizing them: http://forums.arcgis.com/threads/5189-how-to-create-polygons-from-digitized-contour-polylines?highlight=contour Essentially you should be able to make each interval into a polygon with the elevation as an attribute and then select and symbolize various intervals any way you like. Hardolph ... View more

CAD files are not editable in ArcMAP.  They can be brought in, georeferenced, displayed and copied (sometimes) to editable feature classes.  However they can be converted to GIS features, both by the CAD to geodatabase tool and by reprojecting to a different coordinate system.  Likely your best approach will be to convert all the CAD data into gdb feature classes if you need to edit it.  This will involve georeferencing them either by knowing some coordinates or having a reference base map. On the other hand if you are only plotting locations, you may only need a single point file (feature class or shapefile) and just display the dwgs as background layers once georefed. Hardolph ... View more

Grant, LENGTH is the default option when you use the CREATE ROUTES tool.  Might be fastest to just recreate the routes and select that option.  A way of checking graphically might be to HATCH your routes and compare the end value hatch labels to the length. Hardolph ... View more

Brian,  I don't recommend TRACING the polyline features, just convert them. Unless you are making an offset line it is unecessary. Also not familiar with TRACE OPTIONS;  they only appear to be available in the UTILITY NETWORK ANALYST Toolbar, which may mean someone has set up something on your machine to use them in a ?template.   Maybe the selection problem is because the tool is looking for networks? I'm also wary of personal geodatabases with large datasets especially if Win 7 is involved rather than XP. I'd recommend making sure you have extracted just a set of polylines from the CAD data (there are usually several component extracted) and creating a set of polygons directly from that using one of the options I mentioned.  If the polyline data is clean it is about a 5 minute job for the lot. cheers, Hardolph ... View more

Jamie, not sure what differentiates your "layers" but I assume they are different polyline Feature Classes (or shapefiles). If you are doing purely spatial editing, i.e. moving vertices, I'd suggest using "map topology" which will allow you to select common vertices from both and move them together. Otherwise, perhaps do a spatial join and get rid of one of the Feature Classes and create 2 display layers to symbolize/label the polyline with road name and address ranges.  Perhaps then turn the roads into routes (Linear Referencing > Create Routes) and make the block address ranges numbers into route events (from-to). Hardolph ... View more

Dave, As an interim method, i.e. clunky, you can locate individual Bird sites using the "direction-distance" tool in editing functions for drawing polylines and locating vertices.  This is activated by snapping the sketch tool with a polyline FC to your control/reference point then right clicking for the pulldown menu or CTRL- G and entering the direction-distance data.  Then you would have to snap a point to the end of the line that is drawn.  This will work very precisely, and could be sped up by entering the direction and distance info in fields for the reference point so you can see them in the attribute table then draw all the lines before switching to the point feature class to add points at the end of the lines for your birds. Alternatively, you can do this with the direction-distance editing tool in a point feature class only,  (looks like a circle with a line through it in the 9.3 editing tool pulldown).   First snap to you reference point and hit A to enter an azimuth, snap to the same point again and hit D to enter the distance, then hit enter to make a new point.  I think I prefer the polyline method; having to snap back to the same point twice is a bit confusing and drawing the polylines will create a verifyable record of how you located the points. With the points located you can output the coordinates in new fields in your point feature class using Calculate Geometry. Another way that runs a bit outside ArcMAP, I guess you could export your GPS reference points to a spreadsheet then add your azimuth and distance and calcuate trigonometrically (add D*sin (az in radians) to the X coordinate and D*cos (az in rad) to the Y for new X-Y positions then return that table to ArcMAP as an ADD X-Y Data function from the Tools menu using the new coordinates.  You could do the calculation in ArcMAP but you would have to reinput the X-Y table anyway. good luck, Hardolph ... View more

Brian, there are several ArcView 9.2, 9.3, 10 options for creating polygons directly from your polylines, even 70,000 of them all at once, they are just not documented much by ESRI, well, maybe not at all. Here's a couple of recent threads where I outlined some methods: http://forums.arcgis.com/threads/6786-polyline-to-polygon?highlight=polygon http://forums.arcgis.com/threads/26967-Creating-polygons-from-lines?highlight=polygon The one additional issue with CAD derived material is making sure they are translated into GIS polylines otherwise they may not be editable or selectable. However, assuming you have that covered (check the CAD subforum if not) you can either use a couple of scripts found in Toolbox Samples in 9.3 ("Write Features to Text File" and "Create Features from Text File" with a quick edit of the header line in the .txt file from "polyline" to "polygon" in between running the scripts) or use the method I've outlined that uses Task: Auto-complete and the sketch tool. Both methods are quite simple, the latter more so in a normal editing workflow and can be used across several polyline Feature Classes simultaneously. Here's another thread with more detailed instructions for polygons and transferring attributes from, in this case, contour lines, to created polygons, but perhaps you can use a similar method for your subdivision if the polyline files have significant attribute material. http://forums.arcgis.com/threads/30638-How-to-convert-rain-contour-to-polygon?highlight=polygon and the deprecated location of the script files in ArcGIS 10 http://resources.arcgis.com/gallery/file/geoprocessing/details?entryID=F25C5576-1422-2418-A060-04188EBD33A9 Try some of that and if you have a more specific problem let me know and I'll paste something in to this thread. You're on the right track making a merged copy of the polylines; that's what I usually do in a scatch feature class to preserve my original polylines with their respective visual attributes if I use the Auto-Complete method. good luck, Hardolph ... View more