I finished the analysis part of my GIS I project yesterday. Overall the project went quite well but there was a moment of panic when I realized that ArcGIS doesn’t have any Punch tool for vector editing. I seem to remember this method being available in ArcView 3.x as “Erase” but its missing from ArcGIS. Maybe it was in ArcInfo?
ArcGIS provides a Clip tool, which lets you take one shape (i.e. the outline of the city of Portland) and use it to trim another shape (i.e. interstates) so that you only have the interstates that are within Portland city limits. This is useful, but I want to do the opposite. I want to take a shape of “bad” areas and punch them out of the otherwise “good” areas.
In theory you could design your analysis to avoid needing this functionality, but its such a simple operation that it should be included. I do it all the time in Freehand using punch. Luckily, there’s a plug-in for ArcGIS called XTools Pro that has a 30-day free trial. This software lets you Erase one layer based on another, so I downloaded it and got on with my analysis. Whew!
so when we gonna see the project?
I have to admit that I’m somewhat afraid of releasing my results as it may affect the market. That is of course preposterous, but still, I don’t want someone biting on my props(erty)….
Its forthcoming though. I have to finish the write up and rest my eyes.
Got home safely, with enough time to spare to win a game of poker. thanks again for the beer. Very good outmeal stout. Don’t worry, I shared with many.