Latest Contributions by JimW1

You are going to need more than 60 days 🙂 ... View more

I had the same reaction to the new dynamic title in that it was kind of silly to have a dynamic text string for a simple title. I see now you can just delete the dynamic text code and write whatever you like as a title. It is slightly more work than the old method of Insert>Title and then just typing over 'Title'. My workaround was to just add a text box instead of the Title and I'll probably just keep doing it that way. I question why the dynamic title is not under Insert>Dynamic Text> and why the old-school title wasn't left alone. ... View more

This happens to me with SDE (Arc10) on SQL Server 2008 about once a week. The table will only show 2048 records. If I close my ArcMap session and re-open then the table is fine. I've repeatedly searched these forums for someone else experiencing this problem so I kind of got excited when I saw this thread. I have had it happen with XY Events and Joins and it is never reproducible b/c a simple ArcMap close fixes the problem. ... View more

Thank you very much...I am not very good at constructing syntax so will have a go at building on it. Cheers again. Another trick I have done for well labels is to make a table in Excel and use the much quicker/easier Excel commands to format the text strings. Then make a copy of your table using 'Paste Values' to get rid of the formulas. Now in ArcMap just join your Excel table to the base data and use the text string field from the join table (the Excel table) in your map. I had one project where I had to label the top 3 offending parameters for drinking water wells and that would be absolute torture to try and code in VB Script - if it is even possible. I used nested IF statements in Excel to make the label strings and did the join trick to label the map. ... View more

I am looking to label points on a map however the text is rather long and when put onto a stand label in ArcMap is very long and not very good looking. Is there a way of putting a return in the middle (or after a specified number of characters) of a text field using the VB Script in the labels tab of a layers properties? Thanks for any help! This code will split the label in half: Function FindLabel ( [name] ) firsthalf =   left([name],len([name])/2) secondhalf = right([name],len([name])/2) FindLabel = firsthalf & vbnewline & secondhalf End Function It's not ideal but should but is the basic syntax that can be built upon. So for my test label it shows: "This is a very long label for rea lly only needing to label Toronto" ... View more

If you follow this paper closely, it tells you how you could literally type out a shapefile, byte by byte. Have fun! :rolleyes: I completely forgot about that white paper! ... View more

Haha - those pesky Database Administrators (DBA). They get mad when lowly GIS Analysts like me try to make suggestions for SDE or SQL Server. ... View more

With the help of Google I found the answer to my own question on this website: http://nodedangles.wordpress.com/2011/03/08/calculating-geometry-using-arcpy-in-field-calculator/ This works perfectly and is only one line of code so Python wins this round... Solution: arcpy.Point(!Near_X!,!Near_Y!) ... View more

I am using ArcGIS 10.  I successfully converted an Illustrator file to DXF, added it to an ArcMap project file, and exported the polygon layer to a shapefile.  Using the spatial adjustment tool, I chose an Affine transformation and created several links from the new shapefile to an existing data layer. However, "adjust" is inactive -- so I can't perform the adjustment.  What could cause this? You can use the Georeferencing Toolbar now on CAD files (since 9.3.1 I think). See if that works. ... View more

This is a decidely insignificant question but I've been curious for as long as I've used ArcGIS where the program retains the data/information for the particular geometry of objects.  And by this, I mean where is the information retained about the particulars of the polygons, such as number and relative location of verticies, length of each segment comprising a polygon, etc. For the sake of clarity (and because I don't feel I've expressed my question well), this question comes from a discussion I was having with my co-worker.  Unfortunately, I am the resident GIS expert at my company, which is disconcerting since I'm no where near an expert with GIS.  As the "expert" I was asked by my co-worker if it is possible to fill out a table in excel with all the information necessary to create a shapefile before ever entering or using ArcMap?  I had no idea what to say... From a hack's perspective: The geometry of features are stored in binary fields or binary file formats: Personal geodatabase - it is stored in the [Shape] field as an 'OLE Object' which means it is some sort of binary specific to ESRI. If you Google 'ESRI Ole Object' and know some VBA you'll get a good idea of what is going on. This is by-far the easiest format to learn what Arc is doing when it stores your data. In SDE (Sql Server) it's stored as a varbinary field that is linked to the feature class through a couple of tables. I've never bothered trying to join the correct tables to get a full view but it is basically a more complicated mdb structure to allow for versioning and such. I leave the technical stuff on SDE to the DBAs. Shapefiles - proprietary ESRI binary format stored in the .shp portion of the shapefile - the table is in the .dbf and the .shx and .sbn are secret handshakes File Geodatabases - a hybrid between shapefiles, personal SDE, and old school ArcInfo coverages but I'm still convinced it's just a repackaged ArcInfo coverage with SDE conventions 🙂 This is why you need VBA or Python to make any changes to the geometry of a feature class. So it is, technically, possible to fill out vertices (say COGO) in Excel and through VBA make feature classes. I have had success with MS-Access databases where a user enters a new point in Access and the back-end changes the feature classes' geometry using VBA in Access. I'd say 90% of GIS users will never ever touch the back-end of these data storage formats so I wouldn't worry about being the expert and not knowing. I've worked with many extremely talented GIS professionals that wouldn't have the first clue how to edit the properties of a feature through code. ... View more

Hmm this one doesn't ensure spatially distribution but it works like a charm. You can just keep running it until you see a pattern you like. http://www.spatialecology.com/htools/rndsel.php (Thanks google) ... View more

How about adding a field to your towns layer called something like 'DISPLAYME' and then populate the fields with '0' for do not draw and '1' for draw. You can then use a definition query to not display (thus not label) the '0' values. As for chooseing which ones? The Thiessen polygon is an option but I'm with Gregory and you'll have to do this at least partly manually to look good and to capture towns that may have more importance than others (regional nodes, vacation spots, etc.). There is a random selection script floating out there too that you could use to randomly select class 6 features that are spatially dispersed. I'd find a link but this new forum search drives me batty. ... View more

Like I thought, calculating land cover for each catchment individually takes a very long time.  Each catchment is taking around 15 seconds.  One of my smallest datasets has over 2k catchments which would mean a processing time of around 9 hours. A life time ago I used to do this for Conservation Authorities. In my experience, the 99999 buffer error is related to the stream geometry overlapping itself or self-intersecting. Generalize usually takes these errors out but not always. For example, if you set your remove vertices threshold to say 5m and you have 6m of an arc overlapping itself (think a collapsed V) then the error will remain even after simplifying the line. The buffer is basically collapsing back on to itself and then buffering into infinity on the elbow of the arc. I would suggest running the stream network through 'repair geometry' first and then make a topology to identify self-intersecting and self-overlapping arcs. Just an aside b/c I remember from trial and error. Never ever buffer a buffer in model builder. If you need to buffer a buffer then simplify the first buffer. This will also cause that dreaded 999999 error on complex stream systems. The buffer tool makes true arc at corners or buffer ends and then the second buffer tries to do the mathematics of buffering a end-point arc with angles rather than vertices. something like that at least 🙂 Cheers ... View more

From experience, when you get into technical cartography it's a gamble as whether or not the right person will ever see your post. I'm always hoping this forum will pick up and we'll get to see some cool cartography. I've done something similar in the past for transect errors Have 3 versions of the same layer: L1 - is your direction arrow L2 - is the clockwise error angle L3 - is the counter clockwise error angle So all 3 are the same feature class but are stacked to look like 1 feature. Then on the legend you'll have to cheat by either making them a graphic or stacking 3 micro-legends on top of eachother. Hope that is a decent solution. ... View more