Linear Referencing?

• Method of storing geographic features by using relative

positions along a measured line feature
• Distance measures are used to locate features along the
line

x,y,m x,y,m
x,y,m x,y,m
x,y,m x,y,m

• Supported by methods and tools for storage,

maintenance, query and analysis, display

UC 2007 Tech Sessions 1

Linear Referencing Applications

• Reference features using a linear system of measures to

determine locations in geographic space
– i.e instead of using xy coordinates, locate positions with linear
measure values

Accident occurred
50 meters along
Main St

Main St.
15 95
20 40 60 80

UC 2007 Tech Sessions 2

Linear Referencing Applications

• Features containing 1:M relationships

– i.e when two or more pieces of information are associated with the
same location on a linear feature

2 4
Lanes
Asphalt Concrete Asphalt
Material
45 35 45 55
Speed

Main St.
15 95
20 40 60 80

UC 2007 Tech Sessions 3

Linear Referencing Applications

• Features containing frequently segmented data

– i.e some types of features have attributes that change frequently

concreteconcrete asphalt asphalt

Material

goodfair fair goodgood poor

poor
Quality

Main St
St. 15 95
20 40 60 80

UC 2007 Tech Sessions 4

Routes

• Linear features – in a polyline feature class

• Have an identifier and measurement system
• Stored in a geodatabase, shapefile, or coverage

Route
711081

Linear feature Unique identifier

UC 2007 Tech Sessions 5

Measures

• Measures or M values
– Distances along a linear feature
– Store with X and Y coordinate
– Measures start at route origin

x,y,m x,y,m
x,y,m x,y,m
x,y,m x,y,m

UC 2007 Tech Sessions 6

Measure Units

• Can be miles, meters, feet, time, etc.

• Units do not have to match the x,y units

1.2 3.5 5.1

0.0 2.3 NaN

• Every vertex has a measure (M)

– NaN (Not a Number) means no measure
• Measures can increase, remain constant or decrease

UC 2007 Tech Sessions 7

Route Locations

• Point route locations

Ro
– Describe a discrete location along a

20
u te

te
route

ou
10

R
• Line route locations
Line
– describe a portion of a route
Events

Point
Events

UC 2007 Tech Sessions 8

Event Tables

• Route locations thematically stored in tables are called

“route events” or simply “events”.
– Point event table – i.e Accidents, seismic shotpoints
– Line event table – pavement conditions, riverbank composition

• An event can be any type of table supported by ArcGIS.

– Geodatabase, info, dBase, text, OLE DB

UC 2007 Tech Sessions 9

Point Event Tables

• Two required fields

– Route ID identifies route on which event is located
– Measure is the event’s location on the route
• Other attributes about the event
60 53

45
Route location Attributes Route 1
34

14

Point event table 4

0
UC 2007 Tech Sessions 10
Line Event Tables

• Three required fields

– Route ID identifies route on which event is located
– From Measure and To Measure define beginning and end of line
event
• Other attributes about the event 60

Route location Attributes Route 48

25

Line event table 0 0

UC 2007 Tech Sessions 11
Dynamic Segmentation

• “The process of computing map locations of events on

linear features at run time so they can be displayed,
queried, and analysed using a GIS

UC 2007 Tech Sessions 12

Dynamic Segmentation

• Use the MakeRouteEventLayer tool

• The DynSeg process adds a feature layer to a map
– Dynamic feature class created behind the scenes

• Advantages
– Underlying route is not
broken apart
– Events behave like any
other feature layer
• Display using custom
symbology
• Perform GIS analysis
• Save as a layer file
• Export to feature class

UC 2007 Tech Sessions 13

Demonstration

• Routes
• Measures
• Events
• Dynamic Segmentation
A45 F478
D23

A307

B7

UC 2007 Tech Sessions 14

Route Event Analysis Tools

• Overlay events.
• Dissolve/Concatenate events.
• Transform events.
• Locate features along routes.

UC 2007 Tech Sessions 15

Dissolve/Concatenate Events
• Concatenate: remove redundant information from a table

• Dissolve: split tables having more than one descriptive attribute

UC 2007 Tech Sessions 16

Overlay Events
• The logical union or intersection
of event tables
• Non-geometric method of
Accident Count
performing: 35 45 55 25
– Line-on-line overlay Speed Limit
35 65 45
– Line-on-point overlay
– Point-on-point overlay Pavement Type
Asphalt Concrete

Skid Values
34 30 32
GIS Query:
Asphalt
Accident count >50
Speed Limit = 65
Pavement =
Concrete
Skid Value >= 30

UC 2007 Tech Sessions 17

Transform Events
• Transform event measures - one route to another
• Used for multiple linear referencing methods
• Also used to keep events up to date after re-alignments
0

2.5
102

105

UC 2007 Tech Sessions 18

Locate Features Along Routes
• Create event tables by locating features along a route.
• Preserves attributes of input features.
• Results in a new event table.
– Locating Points
Point Event Table
– Locating Lines or polygons
Line Event Table

Point
Route location
Attribute
s

Distance field is optional

UC 2007 Tech Sessions 19

Demonstration

• Find and Identify Route Locations

• Route event analysis

A45 F478
D23

A307

B7

UC 2007 Tech Sessions 20

Linear Referencing – Creating and Maintaining

• Creating routes
• Calibrating routes
• Editing routes

A45 F478
D23

A307

B7

UC 2007 Tech Sessions 21

Creating Routes

• Routes are created by

– Merging linear features based on common identifiers
– Setting measures based on one or two fields

• Create routes
– By creating a new empty feature class and loading data
– By creating a new route feature class from existing line features
– By converting an existing route feature class

• Create routes using

– ArcToolbox (CreateRoutes and CalibrateRoutes tools)
– ArcCatalog
– ArcMap

UC 2007 Tech Sessions 22

Create a Route Feature Class from Scratch

• Follow standard procedures for creating a feature class

Define
Defineroute
routeidentifier
identifier
Set
Setgeometry
geometrytype
type field
field

Enable
EnableMMstorage
storage

UC 2007 Tech Sessions 23

Create a Route Feature Class from Existing Lines

• CreateRoutes tool
Input
Inputfeatures
features

Route
RouteID
IDfield
field

Output
Outputfeatures
features

Measure
Measurefield(s)
field(s)or
or
Geometric
GeometricLength
Length

UC 2007 Tech Sessions 24

Calibrate Routes

• Recalculate measures along route

using points

55.6
0. 20
0

10
5 15 30
1 2
8 5
10 35.2
5 15 30
1
1.2 8 2
5

UC 2007 Tech Sessions 25

Editing Routes
Route
Route Editing
Editing
toolbar
toolbar
• Edit routes just like any
polyline. Define
Define line
portion
line Calibrate
Calibrate
Route
portion Route
– Extend, delete, split,
Make
Make Route
Route
re-align, copy a route

Sketch
Sketch Properties
Properties

Tasks
Tasks for
for
linear
linear referencing
referencing

UC 2007 Tech Sessions 26

Route Maintainance

• Routes are a feature class

• Calibrate with field data
• Use topology to manage multiple LRMs on one set of roads
– Many departments will maintain their own route and event data.

Event Event Event

Data Data Data

Routes Routes Routes

Topology
Rules

Roads

UC 2007 Tech Sessions 27

Linear Referencing Tools
• Create routes
– Create and calibrate routes.
– Convert existing routes.
• Route display and query
– Find route locations.
– Identify route locations.
– Hatching.
– Route measure anomalies.
• Event display and query
– ‘Dynamic Segmentation’
– Event matching statistics.
– Locating angles.
• Event Analysis
– Overlay events.
– Event transform.
– Dissolve/Concatenate events.
– Locate features along routes.
• Editing routes in ArcMap
– Route creation.
– Edit tasks.
– Measure editing tools.
UC 2007 Tech Sessions 28