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Adding linear events by route and measure

Characteristics of a route such as speed limit and functional class can be represented as a linear event with starting and ending measure information along the route. The Line Events tool provides an interface to add linear events into the geodatabase. You can also use reference offset data to add events to a route. The reference offset data is translated to routes and measures for storage.

Note:

In cases where events are being modified on a route and you want to see the previous events on the route at that location, don't use the Add Linear Event widget. Instead, edit events in the Event Selection table or the Attribute Set table. If this method is used, you can see what was previously on the routes at the specified measures.

Adding linear events to routes

  1. Open ArcGIS Event Editor and, if prompted, sign in to Portal for ArcGIS or ArcGIS Online.
  2. Click the Edit tab.
  3. In the Edit Events group, click the Line Events button Line Events.

    The Add Linear Events widget appears.

    Note:

    The selections for the network to and from method and measure can be configured in advance when configuring, creating, or editing the default settings for attribute sets.

    Learn more about configuring and creating and editing default settings for attribute sets.

  4. Click the Network drop-down arrow and choose the network that will serve as a source linear referencing method (LRM) for defining the input measures for the new events.

    The network is an LRS Network published as a layer in the Event Editor.

    Event Editor also accepts measures in a network or LRM other than the one with which the linear event layer is associated.

    The new event will be associated to the route (route ID) from the LRS Network with which the event location intersects.

    Add Linear Events widget
  5. Type a route ID in the Route ID text box on which the new event measure will be based.
    Tip:

    You can also click the Select a Route on the Map button Select a Route on the Map to select the route on the map.

    Selecting routes

    You also have the following options.

    • Click Choose Route to add events to a single route.
      The selected route highlighted on the map
      The single route is highlighted on the map.
    • Click the Choose Redline option or the Select a Redline on the Map button Select a Redline on the Map to add linear events to a route redline.
    • Click Selected Routes to add events to multiple routes. You can select multiple routes using the interactive selection methods available in the Selection group of the Edit tab.
      The selected routes highlighted on the map
      The selected routes are highlighted on the map.
    • Click Highlighted Routes to add events to highlighted routes that are a subset of the route selection.
    Tip:

    If you use either Selected Routes or Highlighted Routes for the route selection, the events are added from the start to the end measures of the routes. Steps 5 through 8 are disabled in that case.

    If the selected route is not in the active view of the map, you can click the Zoom to the route on the map button Zoom To to refresh the map display to zoom in to the entire extent of the selected route.

    Note:

    If a message appears that is related to acquiring locks, the need to reconcile, or not being able to acquire locks, Roads and Highways conflict prevention is enabled.

    Learn more about conflict prevention in the ArcGIS Event Editor

  6. In the From section, click the Method drop-down arrow and choose the start measure value for the events.
    • Select the network (MilePoint in this case) to enter the start measure value for a single route.
    • Select a reference offset method to enter the start measure value using a reference offset.
  7. Provide the intended start location for the new linear event along the route using any of the following options.
    • Type the value in the Measure text box.
    • Click the Select From Measure on the Map button Select From Measure on the Map to choose the start measure value along the route on the map.
    • Click the Measure drop-down arrow to select either Use the Route Start or Use the Route End as the start measure value for the event.
      Get the start measure value of the event from the route start value

    If you type the start measure value, you can choose the unit for that value using the drop-down arrow. This measure value will be converted into the LRS units before saving the newly added events. For example, the LRS is in miles and you have entered 1,000 feet as the start measure value. The newly added events will have a start measure value of 0.189394 miles because 1,000 feet equals 0.189394 miles.

    A green plus appears at the selected location on the map.

    The start measure and end measure values highlighted on the selected route
  8. In the To section, click the drop-down arrow and choose the method for selecting the end measure value for the events.
    • Choose the network (MilePoint in this case) to enter the end measure value for a single route.
    • Choose a point layer to enter the end measure value using a reference offset.
    • Choose Length to indicate the overall length of the event.
  9. Note:

    You can use any combination of methods to enter the start measure and end measure values. For example, you can use the Select From Measure on the Map tool Select From Measure on the Map to choose the from measure value, and then use the reference offset from a point to define the end measure value along the route on the map.

    You can also add events in the reverse direction of calibration of the route; for example, you can provide a start measure value greater than the end measure value for the events on the Add Linear Events widget. The resulting events in this case are created with the lesser value as the start measure, and the greater value as the end measure.

  10. Provide the intended start location for the new linear event along the route using any of these methods:
    • Type the value in the Measure text box.
    • Click the Select To Measure on the Map button Select To Measure on the Map to choose the end location along the route on the map.
    • Click the Measure drop-down arrow and choose either Use the Route Start or Use the Route End as the end measure value for the event.
      Get the end measure value of the event from the route end value

    A red cross appears at the selected location on the map.

  11. Choose the date that will define the start date of the events by doing one of the following:
    • Type the start date in the Start Date text box.
    • Click the Start Date drop-down arrow and choose the start date.
    • Check the Use route start date check box.

    The start date defaults to today's date, but you can choose a different date using the date picker. The end date is optional, and if it is not provided, the event remains valid now and into the future.

    Note:

    If you configured your Event Editor instance to not allow dates prior to the start date of the route, and you enter a date prior to the start date of the selected route in Start Date, a warning message appears alerting you to choose a date on or after the start date of the selected route.

  12. Choose the date that will define the end date of the events by doing one of the following:
    • Type the end date in the End Date text box.
    • Click the End Date drop-down arrow and choose the end date.
    • Check the Use route end date check box.
  13. Choose from the following data validation options to prevent erroneous input while characterizing a route with linear events:
    • Retire overlaps—The system adjusts the measure and start and end dates of existing events in such a way that the new event does not cause an overlap with respect to time and measure values.
      Retire overlaps behavior
    • Merge coincident events—When all attribute values for a new event are exactly the same as an existing event, and if the new event is adjacent to or overlapping the existing event in terms of measure values, the new event is merged into the existing event and the measure range is expanded accordingly.
      Merge coincident events behavior
    • Prevent measures not on route—This data validation option ensures that the input measure values for from measure and to measure values fall in the minimum and maximum range of measure values on the selected route.
    • Save events to dominant routes—Events are added to the dominant route in a section with concurrent routes. If enabled, any concurrent sections on the route selected allow you to choose which route the events will be added to on each concurrent section. This option is available when the network selected has dominance rules configured.
  14. Click Next.

    The tab showing the attribute set for the events appears. The event fields are shown under the G1 attribute group.

    Attribute set
    The G1 tab shows the G1 attribute set group.
    Note:

    You can use the check boxes to add data for specific events in the attribute set. No records are added for the unchecked events. As shown in the example below, no records are added to the County_A and City_A events.

    Choosing events in the attribute set
  15. Choose attribute information for the new event using the following options:
    • Type the attribute information for the new event in the tables defined by attribute sets.
    • Click the Copy Attribute Values button Copy Attribute Values and click a route on the map to copy event attributes from another route.

    Event Editor uses a default attribute set on the Edit tab. You can modify the attribute set to create custom attribute sets or use the administrator-configured attribute set.

    Note:

    Coded values, range domains, and subtypes are supported when configured for any field in the Attribute-Value table.

  16. Use the following options to access more information on the attribute set:
    • Check the Show network name check box to show the LRS Network associated with the selected event layer.
    • The list of attributes in the tables defined by attribute sets can be from more than one event layer. If you want to identify the source event layer for each attribute, check the Show layer names check box.
    • Checking the Go to the next measure upon save check box results in prepopulating the from measure value using the to measure value of the present section to continue the event creation process. For example, this will occur if events are created on the route using a from measure value of 0 miles and a to measure value of 0.289 miles.
      Adding events to a section of the route
      If you click Save with this option checked on the Attribute Set tab, the Add Linear Events widget is prepopulated with the value of 0.289 miles as the from measure value for the new events.
      Prepopulated from measure value
      The from measure value is prepopulated for the next section of the route, and the green plus symbol drops to that location on the map.
      Green plus symbol in the to measure location
      The green plus symbol appears in the to measure location of the previous section.
  17. Click Save.

    A confirmation message appears at the lower right once the newly added linear events are saved. The new linear events are created and appear on the map.

    Events added to a single route
    Events added to multiple routes

After an event has been successfully created, you have the following two options to continue characterizing the route:

  • Click New Edit to clear all the input entries in the widget and restore the default values from the geodatabase to the attribute table.
  • Click Next Edit to retain all the existing entries in the widget and the attribute table for the convenience of quick editing of similar characteristics.

Providing measures in a different LRM than the events are stored in

You can specify the LRS Network that will be used as a source LRM for input start and end locations for the new linear event. If the selected LRS Network is not the same as the one that the linear event layer is registered with, Event Editor performs an internal translation of measures to always store the measure value in the LRM of the LRS Network with which the event is registered.

  • In cases where the input location for the new event does not partially overlap the route in the target LRS Network, the measure values of the linear event created are adjusted to match the shape of the route.
    Add linear event—Partial route match
  • In cases where the input location for the new event may intersect more than one route in the registered LRS Network, the linear event is split into multiple events so the shape of the events matches the shape of the route feature intersecting it, and the measure values are adjusted.
    Add linear event—Multiple routes match
  • In cases where the input location for the new event may intersect more than one route (concurrent) in the registered LRS Network, a linear event is created for all the routes in the concurrent section of the input.
    Add linear event—Concurrent routes match

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