Remove Overlap (Business Analyst)

Available with Business Analyst license.

Summary

Removes overlap between two or more areas to form adjacent boundaries.

Illustration

Remove overlap

Usage

  • The Output Feature Class parameter contains the input polygons with overlap removed.

  • If no overlap exists between the input polygons, the output feature class will be a copy of the input.

  • You can assign a numeric attribute from the Input Features parameter with the Weight Field parameter to influence the location of the boundary being created. The polygon with the higher value will contain more of the overlapping area when the border is defined.

  • Overlapping trade areas containing multiple rings of equal values can present challenges to preserve boundaries. The Define Trade Areas parameter allows you to assign a ring ID field that identifies which parts of overlapping trade areas will be dissolved together. For example, if your input features are trade areas consisting of 1-,3-, and 5-mile rings around stores, boundaries will be created for three separate areas: A boundary for 1-mile rings, a boundary for 3-mile rings, and a boundary for 5-mile rings.

  • The Grid option in the Method parameter removes overlap by creating a grid of parallel lines used to find a natural division between two polygons.

    Grid method

  • The Thiessen option in the Method parameter removes overlap between two or more trade areas using straight lines to divide the area of overlap. This method uses a series of geometric functions to create nonoverlapping trade areas.

    Thiessen method

Syntax

RemoveOverlap(in_features, out_feature_class, {method}, {define_trade_area}, {ring_id_field}, {weight_field}, {store_id}, {in_stores_layer}, {link_field})
ParameterExplanationData Type
in_features

The input features containing the overlapping polygons.

Feature Layer
out_feature_class

The feature class containing the new trade area features.

Feature Class
method
(Optional)

Specifies how the overlap between trade areas will be removed.

  • THIESSENOverlap will be removed by drawing straight lines of equal distance between two adjacent polygons. This is the default.
  • GRIDOverlap will be removed based on store and facility weights and the shape of the overlapping polygon to make the division more natural.
String
define_trade_area
(Optional)

Specifies whether a trade area will be defined.

  • DEFINE_TRADE_AREAA trade area will be defined.
  • DO_NOT_DEFINE_TRADE_AREAA trade area will not be defined.
Boolean
ring_id_field
(Optional)

A unique ID field in the trade area layer.

Field
weight_field
(Optional)

A field selected from the input feature to influence removal of overlap based on its values.

Field
store_id
(Optional)

A unique ID field in the stores feature layer.

Field
in_stores_layer
(Optional)

The input features containing the center points for the overlapping trade areas.

Feature Layer
link_field
(Optional)

A unique ID representing a store or facility location.

Field

Code sample

RemoveOverlap example (Python window)

The following Python window script demonstrates how to use the RemoveOverlap tool.

import arcpy
arcpy.ba.RemoveOverlap("Ring_Trade_Areas", r"C:\Temp\MyProject.gdb\Ring_Trade_Areas_RemoveOverlap", "THIESSEN", "DEFINE_TRADE_AREA", "RING", None, STORE_ID)

Environments

Licensing information

  • Basic: Requires Business Analyst
  • Standard: Requires Business Analyst
  • Advanced: Requires Business Analyst

Related topics