lines to points in ArcMap

[TroyDavis]

I have a shapefile with approximately 150 polylines. What I???m trying to do is assign 50 points to each of these lines, evenly/proportionally spaced out along the line, numbered 1 to 50.

This doesn???t sound too hard until I get into the nitty gritty. The lines are not uniform in length, hence I can???t use ArcToolBox???s ???Feature to Points??? or any other tool/process that uses distance to calculate the points.

With so many lines, I can???t use Hawth???s Tools (Paths to Points) because I need to batch the process. The same goes for any of the tools on ArcMap???s editor bar (divide, split, etc.)

Needless to say, I???m not skilled in programming and I don???t have funds to purchase a fancy extension package. I???m using ArcMap 9.3.

A number of questions spring from this problem:

(1) Is there a way to batch a Hawth???s command or a tool from the editor toolbar?

(2) Is there a way to incorporate Hawth???s or an editing tool into Model Builder, thereby creating a loop for batch-style operations?

(3) Is there a simpler way?

I was hoping that someone might have encountered this before, perhaps with multi-order stream/drainage data. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Troy

[Robert_LeClair]

Troy - would the Construct Points command accomplish what you're trying to do?

Hope this helps,

Robert LeClair
Esri-Denver

[MattMead]

If that doesnt work use EZ profiler.  Its free and does exactly what you want.  http://arcscripts.esri.com/details.asp?dbid=16031

Default setting is to produce 100 points on the line, but just change it to fifty and use the "multiple profile" option to do all the lines in your shapefile at once.  It will number the points sequentially, but have an ID field to identifies what polyline they are from.  The points will also all be in a single file.

[TroyDavis]

Thanks, I'll look into these for future use. I finally ended up importing the shapefile into the statistical package R and adding the points there (using a script from the Nature Conservancy).

TD

[JaredStabach]

Hi Troy

I'm trying to do the same thing that you describe below, generate a series of regularly dispersed points along lines (~3500) that are similar, but not exactly the same length.

Could you share the R script that you used from the Nature Conservancy or tell me who I could contact there?

Thanks,

Jared