Calculate Polygon Main Angle (Cartography)

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Summary

Calculates the dominant angles of input polygon features and assigns the values to a specified field in the feature class.

Usage

  • The dominant angle of a polygon is the angle of longest collection of segments that have similar orientation. This angle will be stored in the specified field in decimal degrees from true north.

  • Use this tool to determine the trend of a polygon and use the resulting angle to orient symbology such as markers or hatch lines within the polygon. This tool is meant for primarily orthogonal polygons rather than organically shaped ones.

Parameters

LabelExplanationData Type
Input Features

The input polygon features.

Feature Layer
Angle Field

The field that will be updated with the polygon main angle values.

Field
Rotation Method
(Optional)

Controls the method and origin point of rotation.

  • Geographic —Angle is calculated clockwise with 0 at top/north.
  • Arithmetic —Angle is calculated counterclockwise with 0 at the right/east.
  • Graphic —Angle is calculated counterclockwise with 0 at top/north. This is the default.
String

Derived Output

LabelExplanationData Type
Updated Input Features

The updated input polygon features.

Feature Layer

Licensing information

  • Basic: No
  • Standard: Yes
  • Advanced: Yes

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