About Verify Network tools and commands
This topic applies to ArcGIS for Desktop Standard and ArcGIS for Desktop Advanced only.
License:Although geometric networks can be both created and edited in ArcGIS for Desktop Advanced and Standard, they are read-only in Basic
Sometimes a geometric network contains features with invalid geometry or inconsistent connectivity. There is a suite of tools and commands that allow you to detect and repair a variety of connectivity and geometry problems within geometric networks. The Geometric Network Editing toolbar contains the commands and tools used for verifying and repairing network features.
Verify Network Connectivity and Verify Network Geometry commands
Verifying networks can be a daunting task. The Verify Network Connectivity and Verify Network Geometry commands work against the entire network and create a selection set of network features with inconsistent connectivity or invalid geometry. Using these commands will make identifying and correcting discontinuities within your network easier.
Verify Network Connectivity command
The Verify Network Connectivity command will create a selection set of network features with inconsistent connectivity and display a dialog box listing the number of selected features. When the command is run, the user is given the choice to run the command against the entire network or the current extent. If run against the entire geometric network the types of inconsistent network connectivity it will search for include:
- A network with no corresponding network elements
- A network feature with one or more missing network elements
- A network feature with duplicate network elements
- A network feature associated with inconsistent or invalid network elements
- A network feature associated with or connected to a nonexistent network feature
In addition to the before mentioned checks, the Verify Network Connectivity command can also be run against the geometric network features within the current extent. These checks are limited to an extent since they take more time to complete since they compare the geometric coincidence of network features with the logical connectivity. The list of more exhaustive checks that are performed include:
- A network junction that is not coincident with edges to which it is connected
- A network element associated with a zero length edge
- A network edge with invalid edge element order
After identifying features with inconsistent connectivity, the Rebuild Connectivity tool or the Repair Connectivity command can be used to correct the inconsistencies. The Rebuild Connectivity tool works against a user-defined area, deleting and re-creating the network connectivity of all features within and intersecting the defined area. As such, the tool is best used against small areas containing a high concentration of features with inconsistent connectivity. The Repair Connectivity command can work against the entire network, repairing inconsistencies within the geometric and logical networks, or can work against the display extent in which case it will also repair inconsistencies found by the more exhaustive checks.
In addition to identifying features with inconsistent connectivity, the Verify Network Connectivity command will also identify inconsistencies within the logical network. If inconsistencies exist, a warning indicating the presence of inconsistencies within the logical network will be displayed in the dialog box along with a recommendation to run the Repair Connectivity command to repair the inconsistencies. The Repair Connectivity command should be run against the entire network, not the current extent, in order to repair inconsistencies with the logical network.
A file listing the errors and warnings generated by Verify Network Connectivity command is created if the string registry setting RepairConnectivity is placed in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ESRI\Geodatabase. For example, D:\Temp\ will create a log file in the directory D:\Temp\. The name of the log file is the name of the geometric network with the current version, if on an ArcSDE geodatabase.
The Verify And Repair Geometric Network Connectivity geoprocessing tool can be used to verify or repair the entire geometric network or within a specified extent.
Learn more about theVerify And Repair Geometric Network Connectivity
Verify Network Geometry command
The Verify Network Geometry command will create a selection set of network features whose geometry is invalid for network features. Types of invalid network geometry include the following:
- A feature that has an empty geometry
- A feature whose geometry has multiple parts (edge features only)
- A feature whose begin and end vertices are the same (edge features only)
- A feature with geometry with a zero length (edge features only)
The Verify Network Geometry command will only identify features with empty geometry or zero length if they are within a selection set. To create the selection set, in the ArcMap table of contents, right-click the layer you would like to verify. Under Selection, click Select All, then click the Verify Network Geometry command.
A different series of steps is required to repair each type of invalid geometry. For the steps necessary for repairing network feature geometry, see Repairing geometric network connectivity.
Verify Network Connectivity and Verify Network Geometry tools
The Verify Network Connectivity and Verify Network Geometry tools perform the same tests for valid network features as the commands do, except they perform these operations on either a user-defined extent (rather than a selection of features) or on the whole network.
The Verify Connectivity tool is computationally expensive and, under many circumstances, should not be used to discover inconsistent connectivity. The Verify Network Connectivity command should be used in place of the tool, as it will return network inconsistencies in a fraction of the time.
Pressing the ESC key while defining the area of interest with the Verify Network Connectivity and Verify Network Geometry tools will cancel the operation.