Sometimes you might find that portions of an existing feature do not line up properly with other features. The Align Edge tool allows you to match one edge to another edge quickly so they are coincident without having to trace or reshape the edge manually. You can click one edge and click another edge, and the first edge instantly matches the second. For example, you have a polygon layer representing land uses and find that some of the polygons need to be modified to make their boundaries align. This tool is particularly helpful when you are working with polygons that contain gaps.
Align Edge uses a topology to determine the edges and which features will be updated, so you need to have either a map or geodatabase topology in your map to use this tool. Click Select Topology on the Topology toolbar to set up the topology. You can only use this tool to align edges that are in layers you are currently editing and that are currently participating in the active topology.
When multiple features share the same edge, by default, all features are updated at once. If you do not want to edit all the features on a particular edge, open the Shared Features window from the Topology toolbar. This window allows you to view which features share a selected topology edge; uncheck any features in the list that should not be updated by Align Edge. If you exclude a feature, it will not be adjusted; this can introduce spatial errors, such as polygon gaps, overlaps, and other misalignment issues.
- Click the Align Edge tool
on the Topology toolbar. - As you move around the map, edges under your pointer are highlighted in a dashed magenta line. Click the edge you want to align; it is shown in solid magenta once active. If the edge cannot be aligned with any other edges, it will continue to be shown in a dashed line to indicate you need to click a different edge.
- To view which features share that edge, click Shared Features
on the Topology toolbar. Uncheck any features that should not be updated. - Click the edge to which you want to align the selected edge.
- You can immediately click other edges if you want to continue aligning features, or click another tool button if you are done.