Creating holes in the feature template

Available with Production Mapping license.

If you are creating polygons for purposes such as land use or soils, you may need to ensure that there is a continuous coverage of polygons across your entire area. If an area inside a polygon contains a different type of feature, you may want to cut out a section of the polygon.

The Production Create Hole tool creates holes in the selected polygon template. You can then create new polygons of a different feature class or subtype to fill the hole area. For example, you can cut out a section of a Scrub Brush area that will later be filled with a Bamboo Cane area.

A hole created in a polygon

The Production Create Hole tool uses the current feature template to determine the features that will be cut. Therefore, you must select a feature template from the same layer as the polygon feature you want to create a hole in. You can select a feature template from the Create tab on the Manage Features window to use the tool.

1. Start ArcMap.
2. If necessary, load data in the map.
3. On the main menu, click Customize > Toolbars > Production Editing.
4. Click the Production Start Editing button on the Production Editing toolbar.

   Note:

   The Manage Features and Create Attributes, Update Attributes, or Metadata Attributes windows automatically appear when you start an edit session using the Production Start Editing tool.

   Tip:

   If the Create Attributes, Update Attributes, or Metadata Attributes window does not appear when you start an edit session, click the Show/Hide Attributes button on the Manage Features window.

5. Choose a polygon feature template on the Create tab on the Manage Features window.
6. Click the Production Create Hole button on the Production Editing toolbar.
7. Click and drag to draw a polygon that intersects an existing polygon feature.
8. Double-click the end node to finish the polygon.

The new polygon cuts a hole in any feature from the feature template that intersects your edit sketch.

Tip:

The polygon you want to create a hole in must belong to the same layer as the currently selected feature template. For example, to create a hole in the GrassA layer, you must use one of the feature templates from that specific layer, not another layer that contains vegetation features.