Creating and Editing Feature Data

Francisco Olivera, Ph.D., P.E.Srikanth Koka

Department of Civil EngineeringTexas A&M University

Overview

Creating Shapefiles and Feature Classes

Editing Existing Feature Data

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 (but recommended), you can also select the Spatial reference.

To add features to the shapefile, add the shapefile to an ArcMap document.

Creating Shapefiles

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 (but recommended), you can also select the Spatial reference.

To add features to the feature class, add the feature class to an ArcMap document.

Creating Feature Classes

Tool palette drop down Task Type Select Dataset

Editor Toolbar

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.

Attribute table

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. No need to make sure the data frame projection is the same as your shapefile or feature class projection.

When done, click on the Editor/Stop Editing and save your edits when prompted.

Point Feature 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.

Define the coordinate system according to the X and Y coordinates.

The point shapefile will not have any attributes.

Add XY 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.

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.

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.

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.

Line Feature Data

Polygon Feature DataTo 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 on the display wherever you want.

When done, click on the Editor/Stop Editing and save your edits when prompted.

Polygon Feature DataTo create new polygons that share edges with other polygons, the snapping environment should be set.

Snapping optionsVertexEdgeEnd (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.

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.

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.

Polygon Feature Data

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.

Other Editing Tasks

Overview

Creating Shapefiles and Feature Classes

Editing Existing Feature Data

Editing Features

ArcViewCan edit personal geodatabasesCannot edit subtypes, relationships, networks and coverages

ArcInfo and ArcEditorCan edit personal and enterprise geodatabasesCan edit subtypes, relationships, networks and coverages

Editing FeaturesUsing the editing tools you can edit

ShapefilesGeodatabasesCoveragesAttribute tablesStand 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.

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.

Editing Features

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.

Editing Lines

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.

Editing Polygons

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.

Editing AttributesFeature 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.