Edge match two or more centerline .shp files

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03-24-2017 05:25 AM
RussellAuwae
New Contributor II

I'm looking for a tool in ArcGIS 10.4 and 10.5 to automatically snap/link/match my various centerline files. I have centerline files for 8 counties in SW Ohio and SE Indiana. I need these centerlines to be merged and edge matched so that vehicles can be routed to appropriate destinations in these various counties. I have attached three different screenshots of problems I'm running into. Also, I'm wondering if I should merge all my centerline files before edge matching or vice versa? Please respond ASAP.

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6 Replies
ErickLobao
New Contributor III

Have you examined the topology tools in ArcMap? 

Geodatabase topology rules and topology error fixes—Help | ArcGIS for Desktop 

If you create a topology rule-set (no dangles) ArcMap can identify every segment that does't connect to another segment. It may sound tedious, but in your case I would suggest manually reviewing all dangles errors between the county boundaries. The topology error inspector is capable of batch resolving errors, but in your case you will want to monitor / control which centerlines you are linking together. You may also need to consider the directionality in your segments depending on how you've configured your network dataset.

There are plenty of ways to examine the issue, but topology rules is a good place to start.

RussellAuwae
New Contributor II

Thanks for the tip. I'll look into this method. 

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MicahBabinski
Occasional Contributor III

Hello Russell,

Wow! What a challenge. This is the kind of task that makes me glad I got into GIS. Assuming you'll want to ingest changes in each county's road network, a repeatable/automated process is likely desired. I have a couple thoughts:

  1. Is there a regional entity (or your office) that could work with the counties to facilitate editing their data so it edge-matches the neighboring county? That might be more work up front but would sure make things easier in the long run.
  2. Are the edge-matching issues occurring along county boundaries? If so, you could design a process using Python or ModelBuilder that would clip each county's centerlines to its own county boundary and then...
  3. Use the Snap tool. You can set up a "Snapping Environment" that allows you to specify END snapping and specify a snapping distance which defines how far afield from each feature end the tool will look for a snap point.

If you use the Snap tool, make sure to test it beforehand either on a copy of the data or in an edit session so you can roll back the changes if you don't like the results.

Good luck - let us know when you figure it out.

Micah

RussellAuwae
New Contributor II

Thanks for your help. I'll try it out. I think either method presented here on the forum will require manually aligning every centerline to one another. I guess I was looking for a "one-click" solution since my completion date is in a few months, and I'm the only GIS guy here. 

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ErickLobao
New Contributor III

Couple of followup items:

Topolgy rules are a feature of the geodatabase. So you will need to move from shapefiles to feature classes.

Eventually you will need to combine all of the centerlines into a single feature class in order to create a network dataset for routing through your region.

However, as Russell suggested it will be a good idea to review the snapping (either manually via ArcMap or using the snap tool) on a County by County basis. I would start by examining two adjacent counties with a few overlaps manually and then start to build tools, scripts, validation checks as you go so you can repeat the process more quickly for the other counties and have the ability to repeat the process as new centerlines are published from the various entities.

RussellAuwae
New Contributor II

Thanks Erick. I think this is the only way at this point. 

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