Cleaning a coverage

This topic applies to ArcGIS for Desktop Standard and ArcGIS for Desktop Advanced only.

When using the cleaning a coverage, it is critical that an appropriate fuzzy tolerance be assigned so that necessary features are not eliminated by mistake. You can set the fuzzy and dangle tolerances and any other tolerance for the coverage in advance using the Tolerances tab of the Coverage Properties dialog box. For more information, see Coverage tolerances.

Caution:

Do not run the Clean tool on a geographic coverage. Geographic coverages have units in decimal degrees, decimal seconds, radians, and so on. These units are designed to measure angles. They do not measure distances. They represent a spherical coordinate system and should not be confused with a 2D rectilinear coordinate system on which tools such as Clean, Buffer, and Union, as well as all other overlay processes, are designed to work. You must first project your geographic cover to a suitable projection to convert your angles of latitude and longitude using angular units to a 2D rectilinear Cartesian coordinate system using rectilinear units such as feet, meters, and kilometers. Coverage coordinates should be created or changed using ArcEdit in ArcInfo Workstation.

Steps:

1. In ArcCatalog, right-click the coverage you want to clean and click Properties.
2. Click the General tab.
3. Click Clean.
4. Type the fuzzy and dangle tolerances in the Clean dialog box, if appropriate.
5. Optionally, check the box to Clean lines only.
6. Click OK on the Clean dialog box.
7. Click OK.

Tip:

You can also clean a coverage using the Clean tool; however, you need an Advanced license to use this geoprocessing tool.