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Many polygons with many holes

Question asked by crquijada on Feb 4, 2014
Latest reply on Feb 5, 2014 by MBoucher21

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Hi everyone,

I'm trying to clear a polygon shapefile that contains a huge amount of holes, it looks like a colander. This shapefile was obtained from a raster, so the polygons have a lot of tiny square holes inside of them and I need to clear or fill them in order to get a solid polygon.
I tried to erase the points editing my shp and using Delete Vertex tool, but this is so slow.
If you have a better method than mine please let me know.

Thanks for your help!

Claudia.

rborchert Feb 5, 2014 3:45 AM

Correct Answer

I often use the sketch properties option in exactly the same way.

you can also zoom to the polygon and draw a new polygon inside the borders of the originally polygon that covers all the holes. select the old and the new and then use the merge tool to combine them. making sure to select the option to keep the attributes from the original polygon.

This is a little quicker than the sketch properties option, however it may not be as precise and it may leave some small holes you cannot see. sketch properties will show you all the holes.

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to clear a polygon shapefile that contains a huge amount of holes, it looks like a colander. This shapefile was obtained from a raster, so the polygons have a lot of tiny square holes inside of them and I need to clear or fill them in order to get a solid polygon.
I tried to erase the points editing my shp and using Delete Vertex tool, but this is so slow.
If you have a better method than mine please let me know.

Thanks for your help!

Claudia.

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MBoucher21 Feb 4, 2014 2:52 PM

Edit the layer. Double Click on the feature. The Advance Edit toolbar should have several icons that are available. One of them will open a "table" of the points in the polygon, it is called "Sketch Properties". The table shows the points grouped by the parts of the feature (main boarder of polygon, smaller polygons that make up the holes, and I think other parts of the polygon if it is a multi-part feature [not really sure about this]).

You should be able to scroll down the table and click on the points on the list. You can use "shift click" to select more than one point. In the data window you will see the normally green square on that point turn white. If you delete the point from the list, it will be removed from the polygon. If you find a group of points that represent the "hole" you can delete the group. You may be able to delete several groups of points all at the same time.

Hope this works for you.

P.S. - If you mess up, you can always exit the edit mode without saving.

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rborchert Feb 5, 2014 3:45 AM

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to clear a polygon shapefile that contains a huge amount of holes, it looks like a colander. This shapefile was obtained from a raster, so the polygons have a lot of tiny square holes inside of them and I need to clear or fill them in order to get a solid polygon.
I tried to erase the points editing my shp and using Delete Vertex tool, but this is so slow.
If you have a better method than mine please let me know.

Thanks for your help!

Claudia.

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crquijada Feb 5, 2014 5:20 AM

Thanks Mark and Robert!

Finally I made a process similar like suggested by Robert. I used Union tool to create filling polygons and make a Merge. Before that, I eliminated useless areas, they were less than the donut holes. My problem polygon covered an area of �??�??2170 km2 and 15153 holes, so removing them one by one would take me too long.
Thank you very much to both of you! (and sorry for my english :()

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MBoucher21 Feb 5, 2014 9:59 AM

Just one more option...

Draw new polygons over the holes and overlap the original polygon. The new polygons can cover more than one hole. Select then all and merge them all to the original polygon. May be faster than tracing the outer limits... possibly more accurate if you don't go outside the limits of the original polygon.

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4 Replies

MBoucher21 Feb 4, 2014 2:52 PM
Mark Correct
Correct Answer
Edit the layer. Double Click on the feature. The Advance Edit toolbar should have several icons that are available. One of them will open a "table" of the points in the polygon, it is called "Sketch Properties". The table shows the points grouped by the parts of the feature (main boarder of polygon, smaller polygons that make up the holes, and I think other parts of the polygon if it is a multi-part feature [not really sure about this]).

You should be able to scroll down the table and click on the points on the list. You can use "shift click" to select more than one point. In the data window you will see the normally green square on that point turn white. If you delete the point from the list, it will be removed from the polygon. If you find a group of points that represent the "hole" you can delete the group. You may be able to delete several groups of points all at the same time.

Hope this works for you.

P.S. - If you mess up, you can always exit the edit mode without saving.
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rborchert Feb 5, 2014 3:45 AM
Unmark Correct
Correct Answer
I often use the sketch properties option in exactly the same way.

you can also zoom to the polygon and draw a new polygon inside the borders of the originally polygon that covers all the holes. select the old and the new and then use the merge tool to combine them. making sure to select the option to keep the attributes from the original polygon.

This is a little quicker than the sketch properties option, however it may not be as precise and it may leave some small holes you cannot see. sketch properties will show you all the holes.

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to clear a polygon shapefile that contains a huge amount of holes, it looks like a colander. This shapefile was obtained from a raster, so the polygons have a lot of tiny square holes inside of them and I need to clear or fill them in order to get a solid polygon.
I tried to erase the points editing my shp and using Delete Vertex tool, but this is so slow.
If you have a better method than mine please let me know.

Thanks for your help!

Claudia.
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crquijada Feb 5, 2014 5:20 AM
Mark Correct
Correct Answer
Thanks Mark and Robert!

Finally I made a process similar like suggested by Robert. I used Union tool to create filling polygons and make a Merge. Before that, I eliminated useless areas, they were less than the donut holes. My problem polygon covered an area of �??�??2170 km2 and 15153 holes, so removing them one by one would take me too long.
Thank you very much to both of you! (and sorry for my english :()
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MBoucher21 Feb 5, 2014 9:59 AM
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Correct Answer
Just one more option...

Draw new polygons over the holes and overlap the original polygon. The new polygons can cover more than one hole. Select then all and merge them all to the original polygon. May be faster than tracing the outer limits... possibly more accurate if you don't go outside the limits of the original polygon.
Like • Show 0 Likes0
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Many polygons with many holes

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