How Resolve Building Conflicts works

The Resolve Building Conflicts tool resolves symbol conflicts among buildings and with respect to linear barrier features by moving or hiding buildings so that they do not graphically overlap or violate spacing requirements defined by a cartographic specification.

Data preparation considerations

The Resolve Building Conflicts tool improves the display of a collection of buildings by adjusting the position, orientation, size, and visibility of buildings. The representative pattern and distribution is maintained. Graphic conflicts between buildings and between buildings and barrier features like roads are resolved. Small polygon buildings are also enlarged to a minimum size to meet a specification.

This tool operates by assessing graphic conflicts of symbolized features. The symbology extent and the reference scale are considered in conjunction with one another. Run this tool only after you have finalized the appearance of your symbols and ensure that the reference scale corresponds to the final intended output scale.

Take note of the following input data requirements and suggestions:

Workflow considerations

This tool is generally most effective when used in conjunction with other generalization and graphic conflict resolution tools. Here are some tips to help you use these tools together with other layers and other tools in a workflow:

Partitioning large datasets

This tool acts contextually such that adjacent and connecting features are considered when determining the final state of each individual feature. Multiple datasets can be input at once, which means they are all considered simultaneously. Using a large amount of input data (or many separate input layers) can exceed memory limitations. To avoid this limitation, consider enabling partitioning when running this tool by specifying a partition feature class in the Cartographic Partitions geoprocessing environment variable. Partitioning allows the tool to sequentially process the data in logical and manageable chunks. The input features delineated by each partition polygon is loaded into the tool, along with additional data from a buffer zone surrounding the partition. The additional data is considered as processing proceeds. This ensures that the resulting feature classes are seamless and the states of features spanning across partition boundaries are consistent.

When building conflicts are resolved by partitioning, only the buildings that originate within or on the border of each partition will be modified. Modifications made by the tool may include resizing, rotating, moving, or not displaying. A building may even be moved outside of the partition. The barriers and buildings in the buffer zone surrounding the partition will be taken into consideration when the partition buildings are processed, but they will not be modified.

Related Topics

10/25/2012