Creating and Editing Feature Data

1
Creating and Editing Feature Data

• Francisco Olivera, Ph.D., P.E.
• Srikanth Koka
• Department of Civil Engineering
• Texas AM University

2
Overview

• Creating Shapefiles and Feature Classes
• Editing Existing Feature Data

3
Creating Shapefiles

• To create a new shapefile open ArcCatalog,
  right-click on a folder, click on New/Shapefile
  in the drop down menu, enter the Name for the new
  shapefile, and then select the Feature type to be
  inserted. Optionally, you can also select the
  Spatial reference.
• To add features to the shapefile, add the
  shapefile to an ArcMap document.

4
Creating Feature Classes

• To create a new feature class open ArcCatalog,
  right-click on the geodatabase or feature
  dataset, click on New/Feature Class in the drop
  down menu, enter the Name for the new feature
  class in the wizard, click Next, click on the
  shape field, select the Geometry Type to be
  inserted. Optionally, you can also select the
  Spatial reference.
• To add features to the feature class, add the
  feature class to an ArcMap document.

5
Editor Toolbar
Task Type
Tool palette drop down
Select Dataset
Attribute table

• ArcGIS edit tools can be used to create new
  features or to edit features existing in a
  dataset.
• To add the editor toolbar to a ArcMap document,
  click Tools/Customize. In the Customize wizard,
  click Toolbars/Editor.

6
Point Feature Data

• To add points to a shapefile or feature class,
  add the dataset to an ArcMap data frame.
• Start an editing session by clicking on
  Editor/Start Editing menu.
• Click on the Sketch tool, and then click on the
  display wherever you want to define a point.
• When done, click on the Editor/Stop Editing and
  save your edits when prompted.

7
Line Feature Data

• To add lines to a shapefile or feature class, add
  the dataset to an ArcMap data frame.
• Start an editing session by clicking on
  Editor/Start Editing.
• Click on the Sketch tool, and then start drawing
  lines on the data frame display wherever you
  want.
• When done, click on the Editor/Stop Editing and
  save your edits when prompted.

8
Line Feature Data

• If you want to snap a line to another line of the
  same dataset, you must set the snapping
  environment before drawing the lines. To set the
  snapping environment, click on Editor/Snapping
  under the edit mode.
• Setting the snapping environment consists of
  checking vertex, edge, or end as the snapping
  mode.
• The snapping tolerance is set by clicking on
  Editor/Options/General and entering the desired
  distance.

9
Line Feature Data

• To split a line feature, under edit mode select
  the feature using the Edit tool, click on the
  Split Tool and then on the point of the feature
  where you want to split it.
• Line features can also be split at a specified
  distance or at a specified percentage of its
  length using Editor/Split. The split distances or
  percentages can be specified either from the
  start point (or From node) of the line or from
  the end point (or To node) of the line.
• When done, click on the Editor/Stop Editing and
  save your edits when prompted.

10
Line Feature Data

• To merge multiple line features into a single
  feature which could be a complex line, select the
  lines with the Edit tool and click on
  Editor/Merge.
• When done, click on the Editor/Stop Editing and
  save your edits when prompted.

11
Polygon Feature Data

• To add polygons to a shapefile or feature class,
  add the dataset to an ArcMap data frame.
• Start editing by clicking on Editor/Start
  Editing.
• Click on the Sketch tool and start drawing
  polygons, circles or any shape on the display
  wherever you want.
• When done, click on the Editor/Stop Editing and
  save your edits when prompted.

12
Polygon Feature Data

• To create new polygons that share edges with
  other polygons, the snapping environment should
  be set.
• Snapping options
• Vertex
• Edge
• End (from and to nodes)
• To set the snapping environment, click
  Editor/Snapping.
• In the Snapping Environment Wizard, select the
  snapping option and the edit sketch properties.

13
Polygon Feature Data

• To cut a polygon into two parts, under edit mode,
  click the Task dropdown arrow and then Cut
  Polygon Features.
• Using the Edit tool select the polygon.
• Click the Tool palette dropdown arrow and click
  the Sketch tool.
• Draw a line sketch that cuts the original polygon
  as desired.
• To Save the edits click on Editor/Save Edits.

14
Polygon Feature Data

• To merge polygons into a single feature, under
  editing mode, use the Edit tool to select
  polygons to be merged.
• To merge the selected polygons, click on
  Editor/Merge.
• To Save the edits click on Editor/Save Edits.

15
Other Editing Tasks

• Divide Divides an existing line feature and
  creates new lines using a user-specified length
  interval.
• Buffer Creates a new feature by buffering the
  selected feature using a user-specified distance.
• Copy Parallel Creates a new line feature,
  parallel to the selected feature at a
  user-specified distance.
• Union Creates a new feature by combining the
  selected features, but does not delete the
  original features (unlike merge).
• Intersect Creates a new feature from the
  overlapping features in a layer, but does not
  delete the original features.

16
Add XY Data

• To create a point shapefile based on coordinates
  stored in a table, click on Tools/Add XY Data
  and then select the table and fields that store
  the coordinates.
• The point shapefile will not have any attributes.

17
Overview

• Creating Shapefiles and Feature Classes
• Editing Existing Feature Data

18
Editing Features

• ArcView
• Can edit personal geodatabases
• Cannot edit subtypes, relationships, networks and
  coverages
• ArcInfo and ArcEditor
• Can edit personal and enterprise geodatabases
• Can edit subtypes, relationships, networks and
  coverages

19
Editing Features

• Using the editing tools you can edit
• Shapefiles
• Geodatabases
• Coverages
• Attribute tables
• Stand alone tables
• Only one workspace can be edited during an
  editing session, but multiple datasets belonging
  to a work space can be edited.
• Only one Data Frame in an ArcMap document can be
  edited during an editing session.

20
Editing Features

• Edit mode is on if the tools on the editor tool
  bar become visible.
• To make a copy of the dataset before editing,
  right-click on the layer and then click
  Data/Export.
• To edit features in a dataset, click Editor/Start
  Editing, select the type of Task and then select
  the Target layer to be edited.

21
Editing Lines

• Click on the Edit tool, set the task to Modify
  Feature and then double-click on the line you
  want to edit. Squares will show the location of
  the line vertices.
• To edit a vertex common to multiple lines, click
  on the vertex and then edit it.

• To move a vertex, click on it and drag it.
• To create a new vertex move the cursor to the
  point (on the line) where you want to add the
  vertex, right-click, and click on Insert Vertex
  in the drop-down menu.
• To delete a vertex move the cursor to the
  vertex you want to delete, right-click, and click
  on Delete Vertex in the drop down.

22
Editing Polygons

• Click on the Edit tool, set the task to Modify
  Feature and then double-click inside the polygon
  you want to edit. Squares will show the location
  of the polygon vertices.

• To move a vertex, click on it and drag it.
• To create a new vertex move the cursor to the
  point (on the line) where you want to add the
  vertex, right-click, and click on Insert Vertex
  in the drop-down menu.
• To delete a vertex move the cursor to the
  vertex you want to delete, right-click, and click
  on Delete Vertex in the drop down.

23
Editing Polygons

• To edit a vertex that is common to two polygons,
  start an editing session by clicking on
  Editor/Start Editing. On the Editor toolbar,
  select Topology Tasks/Modify Edge under Task.
• In the Editor menu, click on More Editing
  Tools/Topology. The topology tool bar will
  appear. Click the Map Topology tool and, in the
  Wizard, select the layer and the tolerance value.
• Click the Topology Edit tool located on the
  Topology toolbar and then click on the common
  edge to be edited.
• You can now move the common edge.

24
Editing Polygons

• To edit a vertex that is common to more than two
  polygons, start an editing session by clicking on
  Editor/Start Editing. On the Editor toolbar,
  under Task, select Topology Tasks/Modify Edge.
• In the Editor menu, click on More Editing
  Tools/Topology. The topology tool bar will
  appear. Click Map Topology tool and, in the
  Wizard, select the layer and the tolerance value.
• Click the Topology Edit tool on the Topology
  toolbar and then on the common edge to be edited.
• You can now move the common edge.

25
Editing Attributes

• Feature attributes can be changed by using the
  Attributes tool located on the editor toolbar.
• To change the attributes of a feature, select the
  feature using the Edit tool. Then click on the
  Attributes tool.