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Editing in ArcGIS 9: Tips and Tricks Transcript

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Copyright © 2005 ESRI. All rights reserved. 1

Presenter: Colin Childs ESRI Redlands, California

Editing in ArcGIS 9:Tips and Tricks

Good afternoon. My name is Colin Childs, and I'm an instructor with the Educational Products

Team here in Redlands, California. Joining me today is Tom Brenneman, the ArcEditor Product

Manager here at ESRI. I want to welcome you all to today's live training seminar.


Copyright © 2004 ESRI. All rights reserved.

Seminar overviewTopics

Productive Editing TechniquesSolving Feature Adjustment ProblemsAdd More Editing Tools to ArcMap

FormatEach topic followed by:

Software demonstration ReviewQ & A session

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Our seminar today will be covering three main topics. We'll be discussing Productive Editing

Techniques, Solving Feature Adjustment Problems, and Adding More Editing Tools to ArcMap.

The format of the presentation will be a discussion of some new topics, a brief software

demonstration, a review of what we've discussed, and some questions and answers taken by Tom

Brenneman.



Productive Editing

Techniques

Our first topic for this afternoon, entitled Productive Editing Techniques, is geared to improve

your editing experience by teaching you several new techniques that will make you more

productive. I'm going to present you with some common challenges and then show you some

solutions to those challenges, in order to help you become more effective in how you do your

work.



Selection challenge #1With multiple selectable layers, how can you modify feature selection by individual layer?

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The first challenge that we have this afternoon is to look at multiple layers and selecting from

multiple layers. So, as a challenge, how do I go about modifying my feature selection when I

have several layers that I may be selecting features from? In other words, how do I modify the

selection of an individual layer?



Use the Selection tab & Attributes dialogSelection tab – Right-click layer to:

Zoom to selected featuresClear selected features (for that layer only)Switch selection (for that layer only)Select all (for that layer only)

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The solution to such a problem is to use the Selection tab in our table of contents. The Selection

tab, added recently to our table of contents, allows you to see which layers you're currently

selecting from—in fact, to see how many features are being selected from each layer. Notice I

have Parcels—23 features selected from that layer—and 9 features selected from the Zoning

layer. So, the table of contents Selection tab is a very useful way for you to figure out which

layers you're selecting from.





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A right mouse-click on the Selection tab will give you the option of choosing additional options,

such as Clear Select Features, Switch Selection, Select All. In fact, you can even create a layer

from the selected records that you may have selected from a particular data source you're working

with.





Attributes dialog Right-click feature to unselect features in a layer one at a timeCan work with multiple selectable layers

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This is very useful for you, but perhaps you may want to further refine your selection. A

suggestion here, and a really neat tip and trick, is, of course, to go to the Attributes dialog, and

from the Attributes dialog, you can choose from the selected features in the Zoning layer, for

example, and unselect an individual record from those. Again, very useful, in order to refine the

current selection.



Selection challenge #2How can you make sure you are selecting the right feature from overlapping selectable layers?

Parcel Zoning

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Another particularly interesting selection challenge is when you're trying to select features from

layers that overlap each other. Notice that both my Parcel and Zoning layers overlap each other,

and when I select a parcel of land I may also, inadvertently, select the Zoning layer feature below.

This a particular problem, and if I'd like to focus my selection, or perhaps cycle through the

overlapped features, what do I do about that type of situation?



Use the Select “next” functionSelect feature, then press the N keyMust point to first feature within selection tolerance

Selection toleranceBox selected Press N

Poly selected

Press N

Line selected

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Now, a really useful tip that I'm going to give you here is to use the ‘N’—for Next—key while

you're currently selecting. So notice on the left-hand side, here, my current selection tolerance is

illustrated by the blue circle, and notice that the first time I use the selection, it's chosen the box

feature. But perhaps I'd like to focus my edit on, for example, the Polygon feature or the Line

feature. The way that I cycle through selected features within the current snap or selection

tolerance is to hold the 'N' key down on my keyboard. That's a very useful function and I hope

you're going to use that one from time-to-time.

Once you’ve clicked a point on the map with the Edit tool and selected a feature, you can use the

‘Select next’ function to cycle through features that are within the selection tolerance. Simply

press the “N” key on your keyboard to cycle through the selection.

This is a useful way to select a particular feature from several overlapping features. If you select

the incorrect feature when you click with the Edit Tool, the N key can be pressed to deselect this

feature and select the next feature that is within the specified selection tolerance. You can

continue to press the N key to cycle through the features under the original location you clicked.

You jump to another feature based on the order of the selectable layers.



Selection challenge #3How can you avoid accidentally moving selected features?

Gap between features

Selected feature

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Another selection challenge you find fairly often is that, once you’ve selected a feature, you may

have inadvertently moved that feature—without really thinking about it or without really

intending to move the feature. How do I solve that problem?



Set the Sticky move toleranceHelps avoid accidental movementPrevents feature movement within tolerance

100 pixels

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Well, a very simple way to solve the problem is to use the Sticky Move Tolerance. So, from the

Editing menu, under Editing Options, you can choose to type in a specific Sticky Move

Tolerance. The Sticky Move Tolerance represents a distance within which features will not move.

Only once the Sticky Move Tolerance has been exceeded, will the feature actually move. This is

very useful to prevent you from doing things or moving features without really intending to.



Snapping challenge #1How can you visualize the snapping environment while you are editing?

Snapping to vertex or edge?

Snapping to which layer?

Snapping tolerance?

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Let's look at some Snapping Challenges. So, we've categorized these into Snapping Challenges,

Selection Challenges, and Sketching Challenges. So, let's have a look at a Snapping Challenge

that occurs fairly often. Now, I'm not sure about you, but while I'm snapping features during a

sketch, during an edit, I often like to figure out whom I'm snapping to or which features I'm

snapping to, and that's kind of difficult to do unless I know what I'm doing.

Well there are several different ways of actually being able to see whom I'm snapping to.



Snap agents, tips, and a shortcut key Snapping indicator

Status bar

Layer name Snap agent type

Snapping indicator

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One is to look at the Snapping Indicator. In my lower left-hand corner of the ArcMap application,

on the status bar, notice, as I'm illustrating, the layer name and the snap agent that is currently

active. This is part of the software and very useful for you to be able to determine whom you're

snapping to.



Snap agents, tips, and a shortcut key

If snap tips are turned onSnap tip

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Snapping indicatorSnap tips

A second option you may want to turn on, from your Edit Options menu, is the use of the Snap

Tips. Snap Tips will, as you sketch, automatically display a snap tip for you for a brief second

before fading away. A word of warning, here: I'm going to be using snap tips during our

demonstration, but you might not see the snap tip since the encoding technology that we're using

to send you this presentation does not really encode snap tips very well.



Snap agents, tips, and a shortcut key

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Snapping indicatorSnap tipsSnapping distance

View by depressing T shortcut key

The third way you can visualize your snapping is to use the 'T' key on your keyboard. So if you're

sketching a feature, and you'd like to see whether your current snapping is within the snapping

tolerance, holding down your 'T' key will give you a circular radius, illustrating the current setting

for your snap distance. The snap distance is usually set from your Edit Options, by typing in a

value, either in pixel units or map units, to represent the current snapping tolerance distance.



Snapping challenge #2How can you get more control over how features snap to one another?

Parcels: Vertexor

Zoning: Edge

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Let's take a look at an additional Snap Challenge. And this one is how to gain more control over

the features snapping or which features snap to which other features? You should already be

aware of the Snap environment and I hope you've been using this to create several snap agents.



Snapping tolerance and prioritySet snapping tolerance in Editing Options dialog

OrUse Snap Tolerance tool to interactively set snapping tolerance

Snap Tolerance tool27 pixels

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Just a few tips with regards to the Snapping environment and snapping in general: setting your

snapping tolerance is done in the editing dialogue, as we're already aware. And remember, you

can set this tolerance either in pixel values or in map units. My recommendation is to set the

value in pixel units, which are scaled independent, whereas setting a snap tolerance in map units

will require you to change that snap tolerance as you zoom in and zoom out on the data.

Something to help you set the snap tolerance interactively is the use of the Snap Tolerance tool,

which I'm actually pointing at with my cursor on-screen right now. This tool is not automatically

exposed, but can be exposed if you use the customized dialogs under your Tools menu, and you

drag and bring across this tool to your interface. I'm going to be showing you some of this in our

final demonstration a little later today.



Snapping tolerance and prioritySet snapping tolerance in Editing Options dialog

OrUse Snap Tolerance tool to interactively set snapping tolerance

ThenPrioritize layers in Snapping Environment

Snap Tolerance tool27 pixels

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One more area I'd like you to be attentive about is the ability for you to prioritize your snap

agents. So, in the Snapping Environment, when you create a snap agent, such as this example

here, where I've set two snap agents: one for parcel vertexes and one for parcel ends, and another,

third one in this case, for zoning edges. You can prioritize your snap agents by dragging them up

and down in the list of the layer snapping environment. So if I drag zoning above streets, and

parcel below zoning, I'm prioritizing the zoning snap agents to happen to act before the parcel

snap agents would. Again, a very useful way of determining what snapping will occur at which

point in time.



Snapping challenge #3How can you override the snapping environment?

Examples: Snap to vertex, edge, or endpoint of features regardless of snapping environmentAvoid snapping to vertex, edge, or endpoint of features even though snapping environment is set

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A third snapping challenge I'd like to offer to you is the need, from time to time, to override your

current snapping. Perhaps you need to snap to a particular kind of geometry for which you have

not set a snap agent. Or, perhaps you'd like to temporarily suspend snapping and use another

snapping technique. Or perhaps you haven't even set a snap agent, and you'd like to enforce

snapping to a vertex or an edge at a particular point while you're busy sketching. So, how do we

override the snapping environment?



Snap To FeatureSnapping on-the-flyOverrides snapping environment settingsSnap to feature geometry without setting individual snap agentsSnap to midpoint of a line or polygon boundary

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You can press the space bar to temporarily suspend snapping.

Well, this is done very easily during your current sketch task by using a right mouse-click to get

to the context menu. On the context menu you'll notice a tool option called Snap to Feature. The

Snap to Feature option allows you to create a snap on-the-fly. In other words, Snap to Feature

will allow you to override current snapping environment settings. In other words, it’ll let you

snap to feature geometry, such as the midpoint of a feature or the end point of a feature or a

vertex of a feature, without the need to set an actual snap agent beforehand. This is particularly

useful while you're sketching and you'd like to do an on-the-fly snap.

You'll also notice an option called Snap to Midpoint, which is not found in the snapping

environment. This is a specialized type of snapping that will snap to the midpoint of a line or a

polygon edge, or boundary, as you are busy editing or creating a new feature. By the way, you

can also temporarily suspend any snapping that you have set by pressing down your space bar.

That's a quick way to temporarily suspend snapping.



Sketching challenge #1How can you quickly switch from the Sketch tool to another tool and back to the Sketch tool again without interrupting your sketch to visit the toolbar?

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Well, now that we've discussed the Snapping challenges, let's take a look at some Sketching

challenges. One of the interesting challenges is, I may be sketching a new feature, as I'm pointing

out here, and I may temporarily want to suspend the sketch tool and I'd like to return back to my

edit tool to do some other edit task and then return back to the sketch tool. In fact, I don't want to

lose what I've already sketched, but I don't want to finish the sketch feature either. How'd I go

about doing this?



Shortcut keys: E, Z, X, CUse E shortcut key to toggle between Sketch tool and Edit ToolUse Z shortcut key to zoom inUse X shortcut key to zoom outUse C shortcut key to pan

Suspend snappingSpacebarRedoCtrl + YUndoCtrl + ZCancelEscShow verticesV keyPanC keyZoom outX keyZoom inZ key

Editing functionShortcut key

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Well, the way to do that is to use shortcut keys. And this is one of the things I'd really like to

emphasize with you today, is that shortcut keys will make you very, very efficient; by using them,

you can perform actions within other actions. For example, as I mentioned, I'd be sketching, hold

down my 'E' key, temporarily suspend the sketch; that'll give me the edit tool; I may do some

action with the edit tool, such as a selection, and then press my 'E' key again, which returns me

back to my sketch tool. I'm going to illustrate some of this for you in the demonstration, but the

idea is that you can use these shortcut keys to great effect to invoke new actions while you're

busy with a current action. Holding the 'Z' key, for example, will allow you to zoom in. Holding

your 'X' key will allow you to zoom out. And using the 'C' key while you're sketching will allow

you to pan interactively and then return back to your sketch tool again. These shortcut keys are

very, very powerful and, in fact, there are many of them.



Shortcut keys: E, Z, X, CUse E shortcut key to toggle between Sketch tool and Edit ToolUse Z shortcut key to zoom inUse X shortcut key to zoom outUse C shortcut key to panMany more at ArcGIS Desktop Help > Index

Type “shortcuts” then choose “for editing in ArcMap”

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To find out what they are, I'd recommend looking at the ArcGIS Desktop help, and, from the

Index tab, typing in 'shortcuts for editing in ArcMap'. By doing so, you'll see a very

comprehensive list of all the different shortcuts that are available in the software. And keep in

mind, you can even create your own shortcuts for common actions that you perform or common

kinds of edits that you perform.



Sketching challenge #2How can you use units different than the map units when you are specifying distance for a sketch segment?

Example: Map units are feet, but you need to specify length in meters

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My second sketch challenge is how I may want to, or how I could use units of a different type

from the current map units of my data? Perhaps my data would be in feet, but I'd like to sketch a

new feature and specify lengths in meters. This is a fairly common thing with data that you find

newer and older datasets. How would I go about doing that?



Use unit abbreviation after distance valueDistance units are interpreted from entered valueDistance unit entered is used regardless of map units

ydUSSurvey YardmiUSSurvey MilechUSSurvey ChainftUSSurvey FootinInchydYardchChainnmNautical milemiMileft ‘FootmmMillimeter

kmKilometer

mMeterAbbrev.Unit

Map Units - Feet

Distance Unit - Meter

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Well, here's the interesting thing: all the sketch tools inside of ArcMap honor the ability for you

to type in an abbreviation for a unit. So, my current map units in the example, here, are in feet,

but I would like to type in the length of a new features' boundary in meters. So, as I'm sketching,

and I right mouse-click, choose the Length option, I can type in the value, in this case 50, and 'm',

the abbreviation for meter. What now happens is the software automatically applies the

conversion constant for meter to feet, and my new feature is constrained within that appropriate

distance for me. I didn't have to remember what the conversion constant was—it was done for me

automatically. Now this is really very useful, and if you look at the far right-hand side of the

page, you'll notice a list of abbreviations that are acceptable to our software and can be used at

any point in time when you're using any sketch tools. In fact, virtually any tool in the editing

environment that requires the input of some kind of length or measure will accept these

abbreviations. Something to look forward to and something to use—really, really powerful.



Sketching challenge #3How can you cut polygon features based on a specified distance from a line feature?

New road feature

Zoning polygons

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Let's take a look at a third Sketching challenge. And this is a challenge where, I may have a new

feature created, such as this road here—notice I'm pointing to the road. And I have some

underlying polygon features that intersect with the road. What I need to do is remove, or take

away, the road right-of-way from the polygon features. Now, generally, this would be a two-step

process: I would have to select the line, I'd have to buffer the line, I'd have to clip the polygon

features. A two-step process generally. How do I go about doing this in a very simple way, during

an edit inside of ArcMap?



Clip with buffer option1. Selected features buffered 2. Buffer area erased in target

layer3. Preserve or discard clipped

region

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Well, here's how I do it. I select the line feature—this is my source that I'm going to use as a basis

for clipping. I take the Buffer Distance, or the Clip tool, from the Edit menu, I type in a buffer

distance to clip by. I specify my target layer to be the Polygon layer. I click OK, and, what

happens is the polygon features, underlying or intersecting, will be clipped away. And this way

I've done both a buffer and clip as a single action inside of an Edit tool, using the Clip tool that I

may have available.



Sketching challenge #4How can you explore your map in detail and edit without changing the map display?

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Now, my final Sketch challenge for this particular section, is something that you may find quite

often. How do you know where you're working when you're using a really large dataset? In other

words, I may be editing a single feature in this area, I'm showing you here, but I need to keep

track of the entire study area where I may be working. How do I do this? In other words, how do I

focus my edit on a particular area, as well as keep track of the larger area extent?



Use the Overview and Magnifier windows The Overview window shows full extent of data

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Well, one way to do this is to use the Overview window. The Overview window, available from

your Windows menu, will give you a large overview of the entire study area and then show a

rectangular box to illustrate the current extent in your map display area. So, you're able to see

where you're focusing your edit within the larger study area of the entire dataset. Now, that's very,

very useful.



Use the Overview and Magnifier windowsThe Overview window shows full extent of dataThe Magnifier window works like a magnifying glass

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Another very useful option is to use the Magnifier window, also available from your Windows

option. The Magnifier window will allow you to drag the window across your map display.




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In the process of dragging across the map display, it will magnify the current extent or current

area that you are pointing at, at the center of the Magnify window. It's like having this moving

Magnify window across your page.




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And it becomes even more fun when you can right mouse-click on the Magnify window and

snapshot what you’re magnifying. Notice I have two snapshots here of two different study areas I

would like to focus an edit on. This is also very useful: within any of the Snapshot windows or

within the full-map Display window, I can do an edit. So, I can focus my edit on either the

snapshot, an enlarged version, or on the original scale of the data and edit in that as well. This is

how I usually do things when I have multiple edits; I make several snapshots, and then

interactively edit in each snapshot window, and complete my edits that way.



Software Demonstration

Well, I hope you've enjoyed this last topic. Let me illustrate some of these things for you during a

software demonstration. Now, looking at this in front of you, notice that I have demo1.mxd

available at this point in time and I have four different layers in this dataset. The four different

layers that I have here are Roads, Buildings, Parcels, and Tracts of Land. Let's start an edit

session and we're going to edit some of this data. Before we start editing, a good thing for us to

do would perhaps to be to go and set some of the Snapping Tolerances and set some of the

Snapping Agents that we know we may be using.

So, I'm going to go down to the Options menu, and notice my current Snapping Tolerance is set

at 15 map units. I, in fact, would like to use a 30 pixel unit, at this point in time. Remember I

mentioned the pixel units are specifically going to give you the option of zooming in and

zooming out and having the Snapping Tolerance work pretty well.

Another important thing I'm going to do here is also set my current Sticky Move Tolerance to,

say, 40 pixels. I'm also going to ensure that Snap Tips are currently set on, and, in fact, they are

checked on right now. Let's choose the OK option, and have these options set for us.


The next thing I'm going to do is I'm going to choose to set up some Snapping Agents. Now, the

first set of features I intend to edit would be roads, and I'd like road vertexes and edges to be able

to snap to vertexes and edges of land parcel. Notice how I have moved or have checked on these

different Snap Agents. I'm also going to prioritize and place Land Parcels below Roads. So, roads

snapping will occur first, land snapping will take precedence after road snapping. Let's dismiss

the snapping environment at this point and let's use a bookmark to zoom to the area in which we'd

like to create the new road feature.

Bear in mind that, at this point, I'm going to create a new feature, so my current task will be

Create New Feature. I'm going to use the standard Sketch tool. And notice, as I'm moving around,

how snapping occurs. In fact, the snapping's a little erratic, and at this point I've snapped to road

vertex. As I start moving, notice how snapping is a little too erratic. So, I've already incorporated

the Snap Tolerance tool and I'm pointing at it right now. I'm going to bring the Snap Tolerance

tool and actually set a visual snap tolerance, rather than the 30 pixel-wide snap tolerance I'd set

earlier. I can check that the Snap Tolerance tool has worked by returning back to my edit options,

and I notice that my snap tolerance is now set to 8 pixels. Now, that's one of the cool tricks:

finding the Snap Tolerance tool and exposing it.

Let's continue sketchings, so let's choose the Sketch tool again and let's start sketching. Now, my

intention is to sketch a new line that represents a road right across here. But, my current intention

is also to show you how you can use some of the different shortcut keys to make things a little

easier for yourself. So, the first shortcut key I'm going to show you is the use of the Zoom key.

So, notice I'm still sketching and I'm going to hold down my 'Z' key. As I hold down the 'Z' key I

can zoom in on the current study area that I'm working on. So, I might create another vertex and

another vertex. Perhaps I'd like to pan a little, so I hold down my 'C' key, at this point. Notice how

I've changed to the Pan tool as I temporarily suspend my sketch.

Now, at this point, I may want to temporarily suspend the sketch and return back to the Edit tool,

so I hold down my 'E' key. Notice how the cursor has changed and my Edit tool is currently

active. In this case I'm going to select several polygons and then to return back to my sketch, hold

down the 'E' key. Notice how my Sketch tool returned back to me again. As I start sketching, I

may want to zoom out a little, so I'm going to use my 'X' key at this point, and I'm going to zoom

out from where I currently am working. I'm going to use my 'C' key to pan across, and then I'm

going to complete the sketch that I have created.


In that way, while I have created a new feature, the intent here was to show you the use of

shortcut keys more than to create the new feature. Let's change our bookmark, and let's have a

look at the Select Next function. Now, at this point I'd like to illustrate how you can select a

feature that overlaps others and how you can toggle between the overlap.

So, let's change our focus to the Selection tab, and notice how I currently have one road feature

selected. I'm going to clear the selected road feature, and I'm going to change my Selection

Tolerance and make it a little smaller at this point in time. And let's select one of these buildings.

Now, notice how the Selection tab illustrates my buildings, when building feature is selected. By

depressing my 'N' key on my keyboard, notice from the Selection tab how I now have a land

parcel polygon selected and how one of the tracts are now selected. The tracts have a larger

extent, by the way; this is why you're not seeing them. But, by using the 'N' key on my keyboard,

I'm able to cycle through multiple features that overlap each other.

Let's clear our selected feature, and let's return back to the Display tab. Let's illustrate the use of

the Clip tool for you. We go to bookmarks and we'll use the Clip feature bookmark. Now, at this

point in time, notice I have a new road that has been created, but I've not removed the road right-

of-way from the underlying polygon feature. So, my intention here is to remove or clip away the

road right-of-way. But, before I do anything, I'm going to choose a Snap Tolerance, then I'm

going to select the road feature. At this point I've selected two features. Let's try that again.

Using my Shift key, I can undo the selection of the polygon and focus the selection on the road—

another shortcut for you. At this point, let's take the road feature and let's create a buffer zone

around the road feature and clip away from the polygon. Now, this would usually be a two-fold

process, except that I have, from the Editor menu, the ability to perform a clip. And, I'm going to

clip this with a 27 foot buffer zone around this particular road. Choose the OK button, and notice

how the underlying polygon feature has been clipped away, and, in fact, if I select the underlying

polygon feature, notice how a new, multi-part polygon has been created. This multi-part polygon

can be exploded into single-part, if need be. Now, if I depress my 'V' key at this point, notice how

I'm able to see the vertexes of the selected polygons that I have here. That's another very useful

shortcut key that you can look at.



Review and Q & AManaging feature selectionsControlling feature snappingSketching features using multiple tools and functions

22 of 35

That concludes our demonstration, at this point, and let's return back to our main topic. So, we

have discussed Managing Feature Selection, Controlling Feature Snapping, and Sketching

features using multiple tools and functions. I'm going to turn you over to Tom, and Tom is going

to answer some questions for you.

Thanks a lot, Colin. Yeah, I have a lot of good questions here. I'll try and get through as many as I

can.

Question From Stephanie, in Fontana: Is it possible to use graphics when choosing the Snap to

Feature option?

Answer Actually, graphics don't work with the Snap to Feature option. You have to have it as a

feature in your map. One way to work around this might be to have, what we call Construction

features, and these are just feature classes that you have in your map while you're editing that

have no purpose other than to use to construct other features. So, what you may do is, instead of

creating those graphics, create these features in your Construction feature classes, and then snap

to those features. I also went and looked online in our ArcScripts and I found a script that will

actually convert graphics to features, so you can use that to take your existing graphics and

convert them to your Construction feature classes. The name of that script is Convert Graphics to


Features, so you can search for that in ArcScripts. And, a little later, Colin will show you how to

incorporate something like that into ArcMap.

Question From Starla in Anchorage: Is buffer distance in pixels?

Answer No, actually, the buffer distance is, like all other distances that are used in the editor, are

in the coordinate system of the data frame. So, whatever coordinate system your data frame is in,

those are going to be the units that you'll use inside of the editor. By default, that's the same as the

data, but you can change that and those units would change along with whatever coordinate

system you decided. And as Colin was mentioning, you could also use other units in those

dialogs, as well, with our unit conversion constants.

Question From Pete in Maplewood: Is there a way to save selection options for specific layers,

so that, for example, the different selected colors for each layer can be saved and used in another

map?

Answer And the answer is yes. By default you could just save your map document and all your

selection settings will be saved in that map document. Or, you can save that layer out to a Layer

file, and when you do that, all those settings—all those properties that you set up, including the

selection properties—will go in that Layer file. And then, when you use that Layer file in any

other map, all those properties will go along with it.

Question From Keith in Anchorage: I've read that using the Map Cache will improve

performance while editing. Will it make that much difference if I'm only editing data on my local

machine?

Answer The short answer is no. If all your data is on your local machine, building a Map Cache

isn't going to save you anything—isn't going to speed anything up—because, what the Map

Cache does is pull things local to your machine. But, if you're working with data that's on a file

server or maybe a multi-user geodatabase, then using that Map Cache can make things very

quick, because it pulls a lot of the data that you're looking at in a local area, local to your

machine, so, all of those operations can happen very quickly. And, you're encouraged to do that

while you're editing, to speed things up.

That's all we have time for now. I'll turn it back over to Colin so we can get back to the

presentation.



Solving Feature Adjustment Problems

Thanks Tom. We're return later to take more questions from Tom, so please keep sending your

questions in.

Our second topic this afternoon is Solving Feature Adjustment Problems. The idea with this topic

was to introduce you to a variety of techniques or methods that you could use to correct typical

feature adjustment problems. Again, we have three main challenges.



Feature adjustment challenge #1How can you convert a dataset in digitizer inches to real world units like UTM meters?

Units in digitizer inches

Units in UTM meters

23 of 35

The first challenge is, I may have received a dataset in digitizer inches, but I never received the

actual georeferencing information for this dataset. In other words, I have no idea where in the real

world this data represents. But, I do have an existing dataset in UTM meters that I know the

subdivision I received has to fit into. How do I adjust this unknown data to fit into my known

dataset? And what technique would I use to do this?



TransformationShift data in coordinate spaceChange location of features in 2-D coordinate space

Convert data in digitizer or scanner units to real-world unitsShift data within coordinate system, example feet to meters

Source

Destination

Digitizer units

UTM meters

DisplacementLinks

24 of 35

Well, available with the ArcGIS software in ArcMap is the Spatial Adjustments toolbar. And the

Spatial Adjustments toolbar has several different options. One of them, an option called

Transformation. And using the Transformation tools, and identifying your source data and

identifying your destination data, you have the ability to set several displacement links between

the source and the destination datasets. Once you've created an appropriate number of links

between source and destination, you can transform the source data to match the destination data.

In other words, you can change the location of features in 2D coordinate space, essentially

converting data in digitized or scalar units into real world units, if you choose to.

Now, this is a very, very useful function, and it's important to remember that the Transformation

tools are used across an entire dataset. So, all coordinates of the source will be matched or

transformed to match those in the destination. An important thing to remember, as well, is that

Transform does not physically join the two datasets; it purely transforms the coordinates of the

source into those of the destination. Usually, after transformation, you do a Map Join or a Load of

the transformed data into the destination dataset. In other words, transformation won't

automatically incorporate into one. Afterwards you do Map Join or Load to do that for yourself.

The important thing with transformation, however, is to remember that it's across the entire

dataset.



Feature adjustment challenge #2What should you do if a dataset is distorted or does not align properly with an underlying base layer?

25 of 35

Now, a second challenge we may have is we've received a layer of data that does not quite match

the underlying base layer of information in our database. In other words, the dataset that we've

received is slightly distorted or is misaligned and needs to be forced to align properly to the

underlying base data.



Rubber sheetingAdjust source layer to match more accurate layerFeatures are stretched, straight lines preservedAdjust all features or only within a limited area

Identity links hold features in place

Displacement links

Identity link

26 of 35

Again, available for us, from the Spatial Adjustments toolbar, is a set of options for rubber

sheeting. Now, rubber sheeting, different to Transform, is localized adjustment of data. So,

instead of adjusting all coordinate data, we're only adjusting information within a very defined

area. And we can define this area by specifying something called an Identity link. And, in the

graphic example you see here, I've placed two Identity links down to hold, pretty much like

putting a pin down and saying 'Nothing moves beyond this pin.' I can further refine the area of

adjustment by placing a polygon around the adjustment area that I would like to work with.

Rubber sheeting is really fun, since you add Displacement links, you can use Identity links, and

you can also choose the method of rubber sheeting that should occur. It'll preserve features

outside of the Identity links and rubber sheet features within the displacement area. I'm going to

show you some of this in the demonstration, as we get to that, but, before we do, let's look at a

third Feature Adjustment challenge.



Feature adjustment challenge #3What can you do to fix adjacent datasets that do not line up exactly?

27 of 35

This happens typically when you receive data that falls across multiple datasets. In other words,

I've got data that—road data or river data or contour data—that falls across more than one map

sheet, and, for some or other reason, perhaps the data doesn't match up perfectly. The source data

from where it was captured may have been misaligned, we may have used different methods, or,

in fact, there may have been slight datum shifts, as well, to mean or to give us the result of data

that doesn't quite match. How do we go about fixing this problem?



EdgematchingAligns features in adjoining layers2 edge snap methods

SmoothLine

Options:Source and targetMidpoint of linksUse attributes to define edgematch

28 of 35

And, again, from our Spatial Adjustments toolbar, we have a series of tools called Edgematching

tools. And the Edgematching tools will allow us to align the features in the adjoining layers. In

other words, we're going to adjust the edges, only, of one or both datasets to match each other.

We identify one layer as source, one layer as target, and we choose the appropriate edgematch

technique to apply to the data. This, again, is localized, and does not happen across the entire

dataset as it would have if we were using the Transform function.




Well, it looks like we're ready to show you some of these things in a demonstration. So, allow me

to bring in a new map document that has all of these different types of options available for us.

Now here's my very first scenario, and this is the Transform scenario. Notice how, in the

Transform scenario, I have new buildings and new parcels that are in the incorrect geographic

space. I have simple buildings and simple parcels that are in the correct geographic space. In fact,

these new parcels that I have here should really fall into this new subdivision area that I am

looking at and pointing to right now. So, that is my challenge. How do I transform this

information to match into this study area? Well, the process is actually very simple, and, before I

begin, I need to load the Spatial Adjustments toolbar. So, notice as I went to View and Toolbars,

Spatial Adjustments toolbar was a new toolbar that I can bring in. In fact, sorry, that is not

entirely a new toolbar—it's been around with the software for a fair amount of time. Bear in mind

that you can use this with an ArcView and ArcEditor or an ArcInfo license. Now, none of the

functions on the Spatial Adjustments toolbar are currently active. This is because I need to start

an edit session. So, I'm going to launch and start an edit session. Now, before I begin, keep in

mind we need to set some Snap Agents. So, let's do that. We're going to go down, and we're

going to set our Snapping tolerances and Snap Agents. First thing I'm going to do is set the Snap

environment, and, in this case, for SimpleParcels, I'd like the vertexes and the edges of the simple

parcels to match the vertexes and edges of my new parcel dataset. And, in fact, I'm going to bring


NewParcels and place it above, so they have higher precedence over anything else. I'm also going

to drag SimpleParcels below NewParcels in the Snapping environment so their precedence order

is lower than my simple parcels. So, SimpleParcels needs to be above NewParcels. Let's continue

with setting the actual Snap tolerance, and, in fact, instead of typing a Snap tolerance, I'm going

to zoom in a little. I'm going to illustrate the Snap tolerance with the Snap Tolerance tool. Next

step to do is to tell the software which data I intend to adjust. So, I'm going to set my data

adjustment data, and, at this point, I'm not going to adjust all the data, I'm only going to adjust my

NewBuildings and NewParcels which are unreferenced or in the wrong geographic space. Let's

choose OK at this point.

Another thing I need to do is set the current adjustment method. Now, since I'm transforming my

data, I'm going to use an Affine transformation. I also have the option for Projective and

Similarity, and this is usually used for different types of data. Projective is basically used on

image data, for example.

Let's choose Affine. Now, the system is awaiting me to place several links, so let's go and place

some of these links interactively. Choose the tool to create a link, and notice that as I move

closer, within the Snap tolerance, my snapping occurs. I'm going to place my first link from the

lower corner, here, to the appropriate location in my existing subdivision. Now notice that I had

very little control, here, except for snapping, to see what I was joining or connecting to. So let's

use the Magnifier window we spoke about a little earlier. Let's magnify this portion of data in

order to place the beginning point of the link. Let's use the Magnifier window in this area, too,

and let's place the next portion of the link. And, I now have two links. Now, for this data, I really

intend to have four links placed down. This would be the optimum for this data, so I'm going to

magnify and create the link again and show the appropriate location where this data should be

connected or transformed to. And I'm going to place the final link at this point, and my final link

at this location, right over here.

Now, I could keep the Magnification window open, but since I intend to show you how the

transform process works, I'm going to use the Adjust function next. Let's turn to the Adjust

toolbar and choose the Adjust function. And notice how simple that process was, I created several

displacement links and my data was transformed based on those placement links that I had

created.


Let's stop editing and change to rubber sheeting, and let’s take a look at how rubber sheeting can

be done. I'm going to change my data frame and activate the RubberSheet data frame. Again,

remember we need to start editing in order to be able to use the Spatial Adjustments tools, and,

furthermore, we need to set the Snapping Agent. Now, in this case, I'm going to set my Snapping

Agent to be the vertexes, edges, and ends of my imported street to match to my current, existing

street.

Let's dismiss the Snap environment, and let me just show you. So, the imported streets are the red

ones that are misaligned that need to be rubber sheeted. Now remember, the intent of rubber

sheeting is not to modify or to transform everything, but to do so in a very specific area. Before I

begin, let's set the adjustment data, and I'd like to adjust only the imported streets at this point in

time.

The next thing I'd like to do is set the type of adjustment that I would like to execute. So, from my

Adjustment methods, I'm going to choose the Rubbersheet option to adjust. Furthermore, I'm

going to place down several Identity links or 'push-pins' to hold movement. I'm going to place

them in these areas, where I know my data looks as if it would be pretty well matched. So, notice

that I'm limiting adjustment to within or away from these limited adjustment links I've just added.

The next step I could do is place several links myself, manually. And, in fact, I'm going to zoom

to one of the areas and place some of these links. So, I'm going to choose the tool, I'm going to

place a link in this area; now I'm going to pan a little, and I'm going to place another link in this

area, right about here. Let's zoom back out again, to the source data, and, if I choose to, I can

place several links, interactively, across the data. And, we're going to place one by zooming in a

little more in this area, right over here, and we're going to link to that junction over there.

Let's return, and I'm going to show you how it's possible to have the software create several links

on its own. So, I'm going to zoom to this area, here, and I'm going to use the tool to create

automatic Displacement links. I'm going to select this feature, then select the feature to link to,

and I should get an option to automatically place links. Perhaps my Snap tolerance is a little big,

so I'm going to make the Snap tolerance a touch smaller and use the auto-link option again. And

I'm going to ask the software to automatically create ten links in the study area or this area for

me. Allow me to zoom again, and notice how the software has created automatic links only in the

area that I'm interested in.


Now, I'm going to do the adjustment. Now bear in mind that this is localized adjustment using the

links that I have currently set. Let's perform the adjustment. Notice how the adjustment is really

well done here, and it's done really, really well in this area here, but the adjustment is less specific

and less clear in the areas where I have not placed any links. I did this intentionally to illustrate to

you that rubber sheeting is a localized adjustment, whereas transform adjusts all coordinates. Let's

stop our current edit session and let's have a look at how we would do an edgematch. So, we're

going to stop editing at this point, and we're not going to save our edits.

Let's switch to the Edge Match data frame. What I'd like to illustrate to you is how I have two

datasets and how their edges do not match. I have a southern stream and a northern stream dataset

at this point in time that I would like to edge match with each other. Again, the process of

edgematching requires me to start an edit session, much like it did for all the other types of spatial

adjustments that I have wanted to perform in my data. So, I've started an edit session, again I need

to set my Snapping Agents, and, in this case, I want to have my vertexes of northern and southern

streams snapped, and perhaps ends if there are some ends available, as well. Let's dismiss the

Snap environment, and let's set an interactive Snap tolerance to be within a distance that big.

Our next step would be to set the type of data that we're going to be adjusting, and keep in mind

that I really don't want to adjust both datasets, I only want to adjust the southern data set. In other

words, the red data needs to be adjusted to match the blue data at this point in time. So, I'm going

to set that as my current adjustment layer.

The next step I'd like to do is to ensure my adjustment method. In this case, it's going to be the

Edge Snap option as my adjustment method. Now that I'm happy with that, I may also want to do

one more thing, and this is to return to the Options menu for spatial adjustment, and to ensure that

my source layer—in other words, the layer from which the links that I'm going to create begins—

starts from the southern layer and ends at the northern layer. In other words, I want the data below

to be matched up to the data above. Now, if I wanted to, I could also choose different edge Snap

options, in this case, Adjust to Midpoint. And, in that way, I would be adjusting both datasets to a

midpoint between them. I'm going to choose not to do so, at this point in time. I'm going to

choose the OK button, and, just to make sure, check that southern streams match to northern

streams. Choose the OK button, and, at this point, I need to go and create the links. But before I

do, let me just check that the adjustment method is set, let me just check that streams—southern

streams—are currently set, and let me go and create those links.


Now, I could do this interactively, if I wanted to, but perhaps what I'll do is create a Magnifier

window in this area, here, and I'll show you how we use an automatic function to create the links

for us. This is the auto edgematch option; it'll create several links between the different edges.

Notice how the box is illustrated for you in the Magnify window as well as in your map Display

window. Now, at this point, I have created several different links. Notice how the systems created

them for us automatically. I'm going to dismiss the Magnification window, and I'm going to

execute the actual adjustment at this point—the edgematch, in other words, between the data.

Choose Adjust, and allow me to zoom in, and illustrate how the edgematching has occurred. Two

edges have been matched perfectly.

Well, that concludes our second demonstration, and it gives us time, now, to look at some more

questions and answers.



Review and Q & ASpatial Adjustment toolbar

TransformationRubber sheetingEdgematching

29 of 35

So, in this last section, we spoke about Spatial Adjustments using Transformation, Rubber

Sheeting, and Edgematching. I'm going to turn you over to Tom for some questions, at this point.

Tom...

Okay. Thanks Colin. I have a lot of good questions here. Let's see how many I get through.

Question From Beatrice in Babsom Park: How do you separate multi-part polygons?

Answer Well, it's a pretty straight-forward process. On the Advanced Editing toolbar, you'll find

a tool called Explode, and that will break apart multi-part polygons, multi-part features into

single-part features.

Question From Noko in Nuhom: How can we set up Snap Tips?

Answer That is under your Editor options, so, if you open the Editor toolbar, and then from the

Editor menu, click Options—on the General tab you'll see a Show Snap Tips option. Just go

ahead and check that checkbox and Snap Tips will show up.


Question From Chris in Campbell River: Are there any problems—for example, accuracy

issues—when editing a file that has been re-projected into a data frame to a different coordinate

system?

Answer This is a difficult question, in that it has to do with the nature of projections, themselves.

Yes, you may run into some problems or unexpected behavior when editing in a projection other

than the projection of the data frame, depending on the complexity of the projection. This is

because the projection itself may be warping the feature, appropriately, as it should in that

projection, to the underlying data. Then, when you look at it in another projection, it looks

completely different. That kind of scenario can happen pretty easily when working in projected

space. Therefore, the edits that you do, if you're reprojecting on-the-fly, should be mostly simple

and in simple projections, like in a simple zone conversion, or something like that—not a datum

shift, or anything like that. Otherwise, generally we recommend that, if you're doing editing, edit

in the same projection of your data. It will just make things easier and you'll understand, you'll get

good feedback on the projections that you make.

Question From Lauren in Tacoma and Christine in Salem: Does this also work with raster

images (referring to the transformations)?

Answer And the answer is, yes, but it's under a slightly different set of tools. The toolbar is

called the Georeferencing toolbar, and it has, basically, the same workflow that you go through

with the Transformation tools with vector data. However, the two are really tailored to those

specific datasets. So, on the Georeferencing toolbar you'll see transformation-specific to raster

data and then, on the Transformations toolbar for vector data, you'll see things about transferring

attributes and things like that. So, they have the same basic workflow, but they're really tailored

to the specific data types that they work with.

Question From Nancy in Alexandria: Can you save rubber sheeting for later edits, or does it

disappear when you close ArcMap?

Answer No. I presume you're talking about the links that you add in while you're doing the

rubber sheeting, and all of those are saved within your map document. So, if you get half of your

links done and you need to go home for the day, then those will all be saved in your map

document and you can open that up and work with it the next day.

I think that's about all the time I have. I'll pass it back over to Colin so we can return to the

presentation.



Add more editing functionality to

ArcMap

Well, thank you very much, Tom.

Well, that brings us to our last topic for this afternoon, and that is Add More Editing

Functionality to ArcMap. My intent with this particular section was to introduce you to a variety

of slight enhancements that you can make to your software that'll make you more efficient and, in

fact, give you the ability to do things that might not necessarily be available in the software

directly.



Finding and using more editing toolsHow do you customize your editing environment?How do you download and install a developer sample tool or toolbar?

30 of 35

So, let's have a look at how we can customize our Editing environment and also how we can

download and possibly install some developer sample tools or toolbars that would help you

during an edit.



Custom toolbars and shortcut keysCustomize dialog > Toolbars > New

Save with ArcMap template (normal.mxt) or with map document (.mxd)

EditTool

SketchTool

TraceTool

SketchProperties

BufferSelection

ClearSelectedFeatures

Scale

SnapTolerance

Split

31 of 35

One of the things I do for myself quite often is create custom toolbars, and this is a very simple

process from the Customized dialog under the Tools menu, to create a new toolbar. Now, what

I've done with that customized toolbar is I've dragged and created new instances of several

different common tools that I use quite often I like to put the Undo and Redo buttons, for

example, on my own toolbar since I make mistakes, and they're at the top of the application, and I

often want to use them when I'm working down below, in something that I'm editing.

So, customized dialogs and creating new toolbars are very, very easy. In fact, from the

Customized dialog, creating a new toolbar is really very simple. When you create one, the choice

is to store this in your normal MXT, as part of your template, so this toolbar will always be

present, or to save it in the current map document that you may be working with.



Custom toolbars and shortcut keysCustomize dialog > Toolbars > New

Save with ArcMap template (normal.mxt) or with map document (.mxd)

Create your own shortcut keysIf keys have been assigned to another command, that command's name will appear below

31 of 35

At this point, when you're using the customized dialog, you also have the option of actually doing

custom keys. In other words, some of those shortcut keys I showed you earlier. Well, it's here

where you can see what they are, and, in fact, it's also here that you can create your own by

assigning individual key strokes to specific commands, perhaps editor commands. In this case,

the Flip Editor command has been assigned the Control 'F' key. So, holding 'Ctrl' 'F' down while I

have a feature selected will perform a flip of that feature—changes from its beginning end points,

in other words.



Download developer samplesIf Developer Help is installed:

ArcGIS > Developer Help > VB6 Help

32 of 35

Developer samples are another area I'd like to urge you to investigate. If you've installed a

complete installation of your software, you will have also installed the ArcGIS Developer

samples, and, as part of the Developer's samples, if you look at your ArcGIS installation area,

under Developer Help, VB6 Help, you'll get access to the ArcGIS Developer Help area. Now, this

Developer Help area has a host of information on how you can create new things, how you can do

add-ins to the software, but, more importantly, it has a Samples area that I would like to urge you

to investigate. Within that Samples area, many development tools or developer tools are available

for you. These are samples or snippets of code that have been created that might not have been

included in the final software, and some of our developers may have created toolbars for things as

a proof of concept. Many of these are available for you, and you can, in fact, go and use them by

installing them into ArcMap and putting them to great use and effect, if you wanted to.




ArcGIS > Developer Help > VB6 HelpIf Developer Help is not installed:

Go online and download sampleshttp://arcgisdeveloperonline.esri.com/

32 of 35

Now, if you have not installed the Developer Help, all is not lost. You can go to the ArcGIS

Developer online site at www.esri.com. And, in fact, the URL for this is available on our screen

right now. This is a mirror of the exact same Developer Help that you would have installed with

your software, except that the samples area on the ArcGIS Developer Help online is probably

going to be more current than your installation of Developer Help. In fact, many more samples

and tools are made available with this online area.




ArcGIS > Developer Help > VB6 HelpIf Developer Help is not installed:

Go online and download sampleshttp://arcgisdeveloperonline.esri.com/http://arcscripts.esri.com/

32 of 35

Somewhere else I'd like you to look or urge you to look, is at arcscripts.esri.com. This is the

area where users, such as you, may feel free to share individual tools and things with each other. I

found some very, very useful tools under the ArcScripts environment that I've put to great use for

users. And, in fact, I'm going to show you some of these in the next couple of minutes when I get

down to doing the demonstration.



Install developer sample tools1. Unzip DLL, if necessary2. Add from file to install DLL3. New Objects installed

May add toolbar or new command tool 4. Expose toolbar or tool

33 of 35

Now, whether you use ArcScript tools or whether you use some of the Developer samples,

chances are that you'll receive these tools in the form of a DLL. In other words, the person who

has created the tool may have packaged the tool up into a dynamic link library. Sometimes when

you download, these DLL's are zipped up to save some space, so, if necessary, unzip the DLL.

The next thing you may want to do is you may want to install this DLL to create the appropriate

tool or toolbar that the creator of the software may have made. So, from the Customized dialog,

under the Tools menu in ArcMap, you can choose the Add from File option. Add from File will

prompt you to find and locate the DLL. Once located, by choosing an OK button, the DLL will be

executed, or it will be installed. In this case of the example I'm showing you here, this DLL

installed several new objects for line editing. And, in fact, all of these individual tools are now

found on a new toolbar the creator had made. This toolbar is added to the list of toolbars, and by

checking it on I could actually use it during an edit session. Now, instead of me having to search

for all of these tools in different places or write some new ones, they're available on a single

toolbar—really very efficient and easy to do.




Well, let me show you some of these in a software demonstration, and then, when we're done,

we'll take some more questions and answers from Tom.

Let's show you a few of the current common edits that we might want to do. So, here I have a

default application, and I'm going to show you how to create your own new toolbar. So, from the

Tools menu, from my Customized dialog, notice the Toolbars tab is active and I have a New

button. I'm going to create a new toolbar. I'm going to call this toolbar Colin's Edit Tools. Let's

see what happens. Well, at this point, a new toolbar has been made on the interface for me. Notice

it's empty. So, I'm not going to write any software right now, but I do want to put some of the

common Edit tools that I use on to my new toolbar. So, I've changed to my Commands tab. I'm

going to scroll down and, from the Edit menu, I like to use Undo and Redo quite often, so I'm

going to use the Undo tool—see what I'm doing: I'm picking the tool and dragging it on to the

toolbar. I'm going to do the same with Redo: I pick the tool, I drag it, and I drop it on to my

toolbar.

Similarly, I'm going to do the same thing from the Editor menu. And remember, earlier, I'd been

using the Snap Tolerance tool, well, this is how I got the Snap Tolerance tool on a toolbar. I

found it in the Editors toolset or command list, dragged it onto a toolbar. And I might do the same


with the Split tool, and I may actually do the same with a tool called Scale tool, which we can use

quite effectively with to features, if need be.

Now I'm ready to use my toolbar, so I dismiss the Customize dialog. Notice the toolbar can be

docked at any location, or it could be left floating. As I start an edit session, notice how the tools

become active. As I select a New Feature, perhaps at this one, here, notice that I could use the

tools to execute some form of edit. Notice how my Undo tool is now active; my Redo tool is now

active again.

Well, let's dismiss this menu and let's show you how you bring in a new tool that you may have

downloaded from the Web somewhere. So again, from our Tools dialog, from the Customize

area, from the Toolbars area, I'm going to choose to bring or to add in a DLL with some line

editing tools that I have located. So, I'm going to choose Add from File. Now, Add from File

prompts me to search for the DLL. Now, to save some time, I have it really close by and I have

unzipped the DLL. Pick the DLL, choose the Open button, and notice it's added several new

objects including a toolbar for me. When I choose the OK button, the toolbar becomes active. In

fact, by checking it on, I can see what it looks like. I'm going to move this out of the way for a

minute, and I'm going to illustrate to you what this toolbar looks like. Notice that the developer of

this tool has taken several tools and written several of their own tools to allow us to see vertices,

to see undershoots, to see overshoots, to covert line to polygon, to do replace sketch, and other

useful functions. This is just really to illustrate to you how simple it is to create a toolbar, and, in

fact, how to incorporate a developer's script from time to time to enhance your Editing

environment and make you more productive.



Review and Q & ACreate a custom toolbar for editingDownload developer sample tools and toolbars

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Well, that concludes my software demonstrations, so I'm going to turn you over to Tom in a

minute. In this last topic we looked at creating a custom toolbar and we looked at developer

sample tools and toolbars and how to download and install those. So, Tom, over to you for some

questions.

Thanks a lot, Colin. Okay. I've got a couple here.

Question From John (location unknown): I have the shortcut key list from 8x, but I would like

an update to that list for 9.0. Where can I get this?

Answer Well, you can find it in the ArcGIS Desktop Help in one of two locations, and it

depends on what kinds of shortcut keys you're interested in. If you're interested in shortcut keys

for mapping, then under the ArcMap book, then Getting Started with ArcMap, there's a topic—it's

the second one from the bottom—called Keyboard Shortcuts in ArcMap, and these are all about

your mapping keyboard shortcuts. Now, with regard to the editing keyboard shortcuts, you could

go under the Editing in ArcMap book, Getting Started with Editing in ArcMap, and then the

fourth topic down is Shortcut Keys for Editing in ArcMap, and those are the shortcut keys specific

to editing. There are a lot of them all listed there and you can get all those shortcut keys for

editing.


Question From Beatrice in Babsom Park: Is there a way to delete vertices without having to

right-click each one?

Answer Good question. First you have to be in an edit sketch, so you'd have to be creating a

new feature or modifying an existing feature, and then you can right-click on that with your

sketch tool. If you right-click on that sketch and click Properties, you see an Edit Sketch

Properties dialog that pops up. With that dialog, you can select multiple vertices at once and

delete all of them at once by right-clicking and clicking Delete or by pressing your Delete key.

Question From William in Alameda: When I'm editing and my task is set to Modify Feature,

and with the Sketch tool selected, how can I make a vertex that is not active become active?

Answer Well, again, with that Edit Sketch Properties dialog, you can select the different

vertices in your sketch, and you'll see them highlight and activate in the sketch when you do that.

The other thing that you could do is right-click on the sketch itself and click Flip. You'd do that if

you wanted to add some geometry to the other end of your sketch.

Question From Jason in Olympia: I work on a lot of line editing with a large amount of vertices.

When I start an editing session, the lines and vertices turn green, the vertices are all small-sized.

Can I change the color to black and increase the size of the vertices?

Answer Well, this is one of those instances where you'll go to the ArcGIS Developer online,

like Colin just described, and find a really nice utility for changing the symbology of the sketch.

Under samples, in the Editing book—third one down is Change Sketch Vertex Symbolization, and

with that sample you can change the symbolization to whatever you want. So, that would be a

useful tool for you, Jason.

Okay. That's all I have time for. Colin, back to you.



For more informationVirtual Campus courses

Creating and Editing Geodatabase Features with ArcGIS 9Creating and Editing Linearly Referenced Features with ArcGIS 9

Creating and Editing Geodatabase Topology with ArcGIS 9

Instructor-led trainingBuilding Geodatabases II

Creating and Editing Parcels with ArcGIS Introduction to ArcGIS II

DownloadsArcGIS Developer Online (Samples>Editing book)

Product documentationArcGIS 9: Editing in ArcMap

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Sure looks like we are running out of time. Thank you very much, Tom. I'd like to point out that

if you've enjoyed this afternoon’s presentation, you might want to look at several Virtual Campus

courses that are available for you to investigate, as well. We offer a Virtual Campus course called

Creating and Editing Geodatabase Features with ArcGIS 9, and, perhaps you may want to look

at Creating and Editing Geodatabase Topology with ArcGIS 9, as well. There are also several

instructor-led training classes, such as Building Geodatabases II, and Creating and Editing

Parcels with ArcGIS is also another useful one, as is Introduction to ArcGIS II. Remember the

Arc downloads in the Developer online that we've spoken about, and also remember to look at

your product documentation, specifically at the ArcGIS 9 Editing in ArcMap book.


Thanks for participating

On behalf of ESRI, I'd like to thank you all for attending this afternoon. We hope you enjoyed

today's seminar.


Technology

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