About COGO and feature templates

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

Feature templates define all the information required to create a new feature: the layer where a feature will be stored, the attributes each new feature will be created with, and the default tool used to create a feature. When your layers have COGO fields, feature templates have special behavior to ensure the integrity of features you create.

The Template Properties dialog box hides COGO fields, preventing you from inadvertently setting the default attribute values for those fields. This way, the correct COGO values can be populated when you create a new feature.

The list of construction tools is filtered to show only the Line tool when working with line templates for layers with COGO attributes, layers participating in geometric networks, or turn feature classes in network datasets. This is because the other construction tools create closed ring shapes that are invalid geometries in those layer types.

Although the Line tool is available, you will most likely use Traverse, 2-Point Line, Offset Line, and the other tools on the COGO toolbar to create new COGO features.

When COGO fields are present, ArcMap automatically creates two-point lines. Regardless of the number of segments you sketch, each segment becomes a separate feature when you finish the sketch. This ensures each feature is a COGO line that is either completely straight or completely circular.