Splitting features

You can create new features by splitting existing line and polygon features into two separate features. When you split a feature, it is replaced with two new features in the feature class table.

Splitting lines

There are two ways to split a line feature. You can manually split a line by clicking it at the point where you want to split it into two lines, or you can specify where to split a line based on a distance or percentage. You can choose whether the distance or percentage is measured from the line's start point or its end point.

With both methods, the Shape_Length attribute is automatically calculated for each new line and by default the original line's user-defined attributes are copied to each of the new lines. However, you can use attribute domains to set different split policies. You'll learn about split policies in the next session.

A line feature is being split 75 percent of the way from its start point. Notice that the feature's length is reported at the top of the dialog.

Splitting polygons

To split a polygon feature, you choose the Cut Polygon Features edit task and then manually draw a line cutting the polygon into two polygons. As with splitting lines, the user-defined attributes of the original polygon are copied to each of the new polygons unless you have set a different split policy using attribute domains.

After setting the edit task to Cut Polygon Features, the Sketch tool is used to draw a line dividing an existing polygon into two new polygon features.