Split line at each intersection

[RobinWilson]

Hi,

Is there a way, in Python using ArcPy, to split a line at the intersections with the other lines. That is, if I have a long line which intersects many other lines, I'd like to split the long line into a number of shorter lines - split at the intersections.

Is this possible?

Cheers,

Robin

[NiklasNorrthon]

If you have access to ArcInfo there are tools that do exactly that. See Identity or Update for example.

If not, maybe the Intersect tool and some coding could work.

[RobinWilson]

Hi,

Thanks for the very prompt reply! However, I can't quite see how to use those tools to do what I want. The Identity and Update tools state in the help that they require at least one of the inputs to be a polygon, and sadly all of my inputs are polylines. Do you have any ideas how to get around this?

It looks like I might be able to use the Intersect tool to create points at the intersections, and then join those up with new lines...maybe. Any further ideas?

Cheers,

Robin

[NiklasNorrthon]

Identity works with lines, just tried it, and it seems it adds vertexes at the intersections, but it doesn't split the line. Do some exerimenting and you might find a solution there. Split Line At Vertexes tool might be useful too...

[NiklasNorrthon]

Intersection, with output type set to point, followed by Split Line At Points (with a reasonable tolerance) will solve your problem.

[ChrisSnyder]

The FeatureToLine tool is another way to do it.