ArcGIS Geodatabase Topology Rules®

Description andexample of a case of
the specified topology
rule where errors exist
and will be returned.
For each example, theerror shape is shown inbright red.

:

Use this rule when all of your polygons should form
a continuous surface with no voids or gaps.

A voting district map cannot
have any overlaps in its coverage.

Use this rule to make sure that no polygon overlaps anotherpolygon in the same feature class or subtype.

Use this rule to make sure that all polygons have at least one
point within their boundaries. Overlapping polygons can share apoint in that overlapping area.

n nnnnn nnnnnnn

Polygons in one
feature class or subtype
must be covered by asingle polygon
from anotherfeature class orsubtype.

Polygon errors are
created where
polygons fromthe two featureclasses orsubtypes
overlap.

"d"d"d"R"d"d"dd"

dR

Point
Point

"d"d"d"d"d"dMeters must be coincident
with service points in anelectric utility network.

Point
Point

Point
Point

Street intersections must becovered by the endpoints of street
centerlines.

Use this rule when you want to model points that arecoincident with the ends of lines.

Point
Point

Point

Use this rule when you want points to be completely within
the boundaries of polygons.

ESRI4/11dhPoints in one
feature class or
subtype must becovered by lines inanother feature classor subtype.

State capitals must
be inside each state.

Use this rule when you want points to align with theboundaries of polygons.

LineLine errors are
created wherelines overlap
themselves.

Line40Use this rule with lines whose segments should never occupy
the same space as another segment on the same line.

Lines must not overlap
any part of anotherline within a featureclass or subtype. Lines
can touch,intersect, andoverlap themselves.

Lines must not crossor overlap themselves
within a feature classor subtype. Lines cantouch themselves andtouch, intersect, andoverlap other lines.

Lines must not crossor overlap any partof another line within
the same featureclass or subtype.

For hydrologic analysis, segments of a river
system might be constrained to only havenodes at endpoints or junctions.

285

Must not self-intersect

Line errors arecreated wherelines overlap.
Lot lines cannot overlap
one another.

25

For transportation analysis, street andhighway segments of the same feature
should not overlap themselves.

Line errors are
created where lines
overlap themselves,and point errors are
created where lines
cross themselves.
Contour lines cannot intersect
themselves.

Use this rule when you only want lines to touch at their ends
without intersecting or overlapping themselves.

Must be single partLine errors are
created where lines
overlap, andpoint errors are
created wherelines cross.
Lot lines cannot intersect or overlap,but the endpoint of one feature cantouch the interior of another feature.

Lines within a featureclass or subtype
must only haveone part.

9910

9Multipart line
errors are created
where lines havemore than onepart.

88

Must be covered by feature class ofLines in one featureclass or subtype must
not cross or overlap
any part of a line in
another feature classor subtype.

Lines in one
feature class or
subtype must becovered by lines inanother featureclass or subtype.

Line errors arecreated where lines
overlap, and point
errors are created
where lines cross.

285

2540

A highway system is made up of individualfeatures where any one feature is notmade up of more than one part.

Use this rule when you want lines to be composedof a single series of connected segments.

Must not intersect withLines can only
touch at their ends
and must not overlap
each other within afeature class orsubtype.

Point errors are
created where points
overlap themselves.

Lines must not overlap
themselves within afeature class or subtype.
Lines can touch,intersect, and overlap
lines in another featureclass or subtype.

Must not overlap

Points cannot
overlap within
the same featureclass or subtype.

Points in one
feature class or
subtype must touchboundaries ofpolygons fromanother featureclass or subtype.

25

A street network has line segments thatconnect. If segments end for dead-end roads or
cul-de-sacs, you could choose to set as
exceptions during an edit session.

Use this rule with lines whose segments should never crossor occupy the same space with lines in another featureclass or subtype.

Vegetation and soils mustcover each other.

Fittings in a water distribution
network should not overlap.

Point errors are
created on thepoints that are notcovered by lines.

Line errors are
created on thelines in the first
feature class thatare not covered bylines in the second
feature class.

Must be covered by boundary of

Lot lines cannot intersect or overlap
and must connect to one another onlyat the endpoint of each line feature.

Lines in one featureclass or subtype canonly touch at theirends and must notoverlap lines inanother featureclass or subtype.

Lines in one
feature class or
subtype must becontained bypolygons ofanother featureclass or subtype.

Line errors are
created wherelines overlap, andpoint errors are
created wherelines crossor touch.

Utility service points might
be required to be on theboundary of a parcel.

Line errors are
created on linesthat are notcovered by theboundaries ofpolygons.
Polylines used for displaying blockand lot boundaries must be coveredby parcel boundaries.

Use this rule when you want to model lines that arecoincident with the boundaries of polygons.

Lot lines cannot intersect or overlap blocklines and must connect to one another
only at the endpoint of each line feature.

Line errors are
created wherelines are notwithin polygons.

Use this rule when you want lines to be contained within theboundaries of polygons.

Must not overlap with

Point errors are
created where points
do not touch theboundaries ofpolygons.

Lines in one
feature class or
subtype must becovered by theboundaries ofpolygons in anotherfeature class or
subtype.

Must be properly inside

Lines in one
feature class or
subtype must notoverlap any part ofanother line in
another featureclass or subtype.

Lines that make up bus routes
must be on top of lines in a road
network.

Use this rule when you have multiple groups of lines describing
the same geography.

Must not intersect or touch interior with

Use this rule when you only want lines to touch at theirends and not intersect or overlap with lines in anotherfeature class or subtype.

Monitoring stations must fallalong streams.

Local roads cannot intersect oroverlap major highways andmust connect only at ramps.

Line errors are
created wherelines overlap, andpoint errors are
created wherelines crossor touch.

Use this rule when you only want lines to touch at their ends
and not intersect or overlap.

Must be covered by boundary of

Point errors are
created where thepoints are outside or
touch the boundaryof the polygons.

Point errors are
created at the endof a line that does
not touch at least
one other line
or itself.

Must not intersect or touch interior

Use this rule when you want to model points that arecoincident with lines.

Must be properly inside

Use this rule to clean up data with inappropriately
subdivided lines.

25

Point must be covered by line

Point errors are
created on thepoints that are notcovered by theends of lines.

The end of a line must
touch any part of one
other line or any partof itself within afeature class orsubtype.

Must be disjoint

Use this rule when points within one feature class or subtype
should never occupy the same space.

Must be covered by endpoint ofPoints in one
feature class or
subtype must becovered by theends of lines inanother featureclass or subtype.

Polygon errors are
created where any
part of a polygon
is not covered by
one or morepolygons in theother feature classor subtype.

LinePolygon"dUse this rule when points from one feature class or subtype shouldbe aligned with points from another feature class or subtype.

All polygons in thefirst feature class and allpolygons in the second
feature class mustcover each other.
- FC1 Must be covered byfeature class of FC2.
- FC2 Must be covered byfeature class of FC1.

Ñ"dR

Soil polygons must be larger
than the cluster tolerance.

Point errors are
created where theend of a line
touches the end of
only one other line.

Must not self-overlap

Use this rule with lines whose segments should never cross or
occupy the same space with other lines.

ÑRRThis rule is applied to all line and polygon feature classes thatparticipate in the topology.

ÑPointPointRPoint errors are
created where points
from the first featureclass or subtype are
R covered bynotRRpoints from thesecond feature classor subtype.

Counties must be coveredby states.

Use this rule when you want the polygons from two feature classes orsubtypes to cover the same area.

RR

Polygon errors are
created frompolygons from thefirst feature class or
subtype that are notcovered by a single
polygon from thesecond feature class orsubtype.

Line

Must coincide with

Subdivision boundaries arecoincident with parcel boundaries,
but do not cover all parcels.

"dPolygon

Line errors are
created where polygon
boundaries in the first
feature class or subtype
are not covered by theboundaries of polygons
in another feature classor subtype.

Cluster Tolerance

Use this rule with lines that should never occupy the same
space with other lines.

Must cover each other

Area boundary must be covered by boundary ofVertices that fall within
the cluster tolerance aredefined as coincident andare snapped together.

Any polygon or linefeature that would
collapse whenvalidating thetopology is an error.

Must not intersect

Use this rule when you want one set of polygons to becovered by some part of another single polygon
in another feature class or subtype.

Lakes and land parcels
from two different featureclasses must not overlap.

Major road lines form part ofoutlines for census blocks.

LinePolygons of the first
feature class or
subtype must notoverlap polygonsof the second
feature classor subtype.

PolygonPolygonMust be covered by

Use this rule when the boundaries of polygons in one featureclass or subtype should align with the boundaries of polygons
in another feature class or subtype.

Line errors are
created wherepolygon
boundaries are
not covered by aline of anotherfeature class orsubtype.

Use this rule when polygon boundaries should be coincident
with another line feature class or subtype.

Must not overlap with

Use this rule when polygons from one feature class or subtype
should not overlap polygons of another feature class or subtype.

94681

Polygon boundaries
in one feature class or
subtype must becovered by the lines
of another featureclass or subtype.

LinePolygon

PolygonStates are covered bycounties.

Use this rule when each polygon in one feature class or subtype should
be covered by all the polygons of another feature class or subtype.

The end of a line
cannot touch the end of
only one other line
within a feature class or
subtype. The end of aline can touch any part ofitself.

Cluster Tolerance

Use this rule when you want lines in a feature class or
subtype to connect to one another.

Parcels must containexactly one address point.

Boundary must be covered by

Polygon errors arecreated from theuncovered areas ofthe polygons in
the first featureclass or subtype.

The boundaries ofpolygons in one
feature class or
subtype must becovered by theboundaries ofpolygons in anotherfeature class or
subtype.

Polygon errors are
created from thepolygons that do
not contain exactly
one point. Point
errors exist wherepoints are not within
a single polygon.

Use this rule to make sure that there is a one-to-one
correspondence between features of a polygon featureclass and a point feature class.

School district boundaries must
contain at least one school.

Must be covered by feature class ofThe polygons in
the first feature classor subtype must becovered by thepolygons of thesecond featureclass or subtype.

Each polygon must
contain exactly onepoint. Each point must
fall within a polygon.

Linen

Polygon errors are
created from thepolygons that do notcontain at least one
point. A point on
the boundary of apolygon is notcontained in thatpolygon.

Cluster tolerance is theminimum distance
between verticesof features.

Must not have dangles

Line

Each polygon of thefirst feature class or
subtype must containwithin its boundaries
at least one pointof the second featureclass or subtype.

Points in one
feature class or
subtype must be
inside polygons ofanother featureclass or subtype.

Soil polygons cannot include gaps
or form voids—they must form acontinuous fabric.

Contains one point

PolygonPolygonContains point

Points in one
feature class or
subtype must becoincident withpoints in anotherfeature class or
subtype.

Line errors are createdfrom the outlines of void
areas in a single polygon
or between polygons.
Polygon boundaries thatare not coincident withother polygon
boundaries are errors.

Must not have pseudo nodes

Line

Polygon errors are
created from areas
where polygons
overlap.

Polygons must nothave a void between
them within afeature classor subtype.

Must be larger than cluster tolerance

LineLine

Polygons must notoverlap within afeature class orsubtype.
Polygons can bedisconnectedor touch at a point or
touch alongan edge.

Line or Polygon

Must not have gaps

PolygonLinePolygon

Must not overlap

Description of a real-world
application of the specified
topology rule.

Generalized description of when to use this rule.

Line
Line

The topology rule occurs between
two different feature classes orsubtypes.

LineLine

The topology rule occurs within asingle feature class or subtype.

Description andexample of a valid
case of thespecified topology
rule.

LineTopology rule nameLineLine

How to readthese diagrams:

Streams are within watersheds.

Endpoint must be covered byLine errors are
created where lines
from two featureclasses or subtypes
overlap.

Use this rule for lines that should never occupy the same
space with lines in another feature class or subtype.

20

80

Highways can cross and come close
to rivers, but road segments cannot
overlap river segments.

LineTopology in Esri® ArcGIS® allows you to model spatial relationships
between feature classes in a feature dataset. Topology rules allow
you to define those relationships between features in a single
f e a t u re c l a s s o r s u b t y p e o r b e t w e e n t w o f e a t u re c l a s s e s o rs u b t y p e s . To p o l o g y r u l e s a l l o w y o u t o d e fi n e t h e s p a t i a lrelationships that meet the needs of your data model. Topology
errors are violations of the rules that you can easily find andmanage using the editing tools found in ArcMap™.

The ends of lines
in one feature classor subtype must becovered by points
in another featureclass or subtype.

Point errors arecreated at theends of lines thatare not coveredby a point.

Use this rule when you want to model the ends of lines in one
feature class or subtype that are coincident with point
features in another feature class.

Endpoints of secondary electriclines must be capped by either atransformer or meter.

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