ArcGIS Resource Center

At the 2011 Esri International User Conference, I presented a technical workshop about tips and tricks for editing in ArcGIS for Desktop 10 with Matthew Baker. In the session, we integrated time-saving hints into a demonstration of using the editing tools to transform a vacant tract of land into a design for a new city park. In this post, we incorporate some of the top pointers as we continue planning the park by creating and editing foot paths, vegetation, and other land uses.

Prior to my first edit session, I review each layer’s Layer Properties dialog box because these settings determine how layers are displayed and provide properties for feature templates, which are created when I start editing. If I set up my layers ahead of time, it is easier to work with them in the editing environment and means less effort later when authoring feature templates and editing attributes. In particular, I use the Fields tab to turn off fields I don’t need to edit, set aliases, and reorder fields to promote the ones I want to edit first. Next, I look at the Symbology tab to make sure symbols are appropriate and any unique value category labels are descriptive, since feature templates are based on layer symbology. Finally, I go to the Display tab and make sure the display expression is correct, since it is used to represent a feature in the Attributes window, selection chip, table of contents, and other places in ArcGIS. 

One thing to note: if you are reusing this map for publishing with ArcGIS Server, leave the OBJECTID and SHAPE fields turned on because they are used to manage the features in the service.

Before I start creating features, I open the Template Properties dialog box and check the default construction tool. Since I need to create curving foot paths through the park, I set the default construction tool to Freehand to make it automatically activate when I choose that feature template. The park needs about a dozen paths and trails created in it, so setting Freehand as the default tool can be a significant time-saver because it avoids the extra click to change from the Polygon tool. By the way, another tip when using the Freehand tool is to press the spacebar to snap to an existing feature.

While in the Template Properties dialog box, I also set the default attribute values that will be assigned to the new features created with the template. Since my geodatabase has coded value domains, I can choose the attribute value from a drop-down list. Domains eliminate the need for repeatedly typing the same values (and possibly making a typographic error) and ensure the attribute values are always valid. For the foot path’s feature template, I set the value for the Material field to Wood Chips so features are automatically assigned a material of wood chips.

The Feature Construction mini toolbar is handy because it allows me to change segment types in a sketch, create parallel or perpendicular segments, undo edits, and finish the sketch without moving the mouse to the main Editor toolbar. Since the Feature Construction toolbar follows where I click the map, it can sometimes end up covering where I want to add the next vertex. I can press the TAB key to flip the location of the toolbar so it is out of my way.

My park data has map units of feet, but I need to enter a length for an athletic field in meters. By including the unit abbreviation of m after the length value, ArcMap knows the value is actually in meters and converts the distance for me behind the scenes. Unit abbreviations only work when the data frame uses a projected coordinate system rather than a geographic coordinate system.

Check back soon for tips 6-10 and for the full slides from this User Conference session click here.