Extend a route

Available with Location Referencing license.

Extending a route in ArcGIS Pipeline Referencing involves adding length to the beginning or end of the route. As with other route editing activities, centerlines provide the location and geometry to extend a route.

The centerline features you use to extend routes can be existing features in the centerline feature class, be digitized into the centerline feature class (using aerial photography, satellite imagery, or other basemaps for guidance), be copied and pasted from other feature classes, or be imported from CAD files or other ArcGIS-supported data sources. In addition to extending the route, the Extend Route tool can update the calibration points.

Note:
  • For an Engineering Stationing network, if the From Measure or To Measure values of the extended section of the route results in an equation point, the route is not extended. Routes must be created using the Create Route tool.

    As shown in the examples below, in the first case, the route has measures from 0 feet to 10 feet. The geometrical length of the centerline used for extension is 10 feet. When you extend the route from the beginning, the measures for the extended section start at 0 feet and end at 10 feet.

    Example 1: Before extending a route at beginning
    • If the Recalibrate route downstream option is checked, the original part of the route is recalibrated and the resulting extended route has measures from 0 feet to 20 feet.
      Example 1: After extending the route at the beginning, it is recalibrated downstream
      The Recalibrate route downstream option was checked in the example above.
    • If the Recalibrate route downstream option is unchecked, the measures for the extended section that start at 0 feet and end at 10 feet result in an equation point, and the route is not extended. Routes must be created using the Create Route tool.

    In the second case, for an Engineering Stationing network, the route has measures that go from 0 feet to 10 feet. The geometrical length of the centerline used for extension is 10 feet.

    Example 2: Before extending a route at end

    When you extend the route from the end, if you set the measures for the extended section to start at 5 feet and end at 15 feet, this results in an equation point where the centerline and the original route meet. At this equation point, the back station is 10 feet and the ahead station is 5 feet. In this case, the route is not extended. Routes must be created using the Create Route tool.

  • Gap calibration rules are followed when editing routes.
  1. Add the centerline and network feature class to a map.

    Alternatively, open a map in which the centerline and network feature class are present.

    Note:

    The information model expects only one centerline at any given location. Ensure that the centerlines used for your edit do not overlap other centerlines in the LRS.

    Note:

    Traditionally versioned networks must be edited through a direct connection to the geodatabase. Branch-versioned networks, including any network configured with a user-generated route ID, must be edited through a feature service.

  2. Zoom in to the location where you want to extend the route.
    Note:

    The centerline features for extending the route must exist in the centerline feature class before extending the route.

  3. On the Location Referencing tab, in the Routes group, click Extend Extend.
    Extend button

    The Extend Route pane appears with the Select By Rectangle Select By Rectangle option selected by default.

    You can use multiple centerlines to extend a route.

  4. Use your pointer to select one or more centerlines on the map by rectangle at the location of the route you want to extend.

    You can also click the Select one or more centerlines drop-down arrow and choose one of the other selection tools: Select By Polygon Select by Polygon, Select By Lasso Select by Lasso, Select By Circle Select by Circle, Select By Line Select by Line, or Select By Trace Select By Trace.

    Alternatively, you can use the interactive selection tools on the Map tab on the ArcGIS Pro ribbon.

    The selected centerlines are highlighted on the map and the Allow choosing of one or more centerlines button Allow choosing of one or more centerlines appears in the Extend Route pane. The Selected Centerlines count is shown above the table.

    Note:
    • The direction of digitization determines the direction of calibration, increasing in the direction of digitization. You can reverse direction for the chosen centerlines using the Flip the direction of the centerlines button Flip the direction of the centerlines.
    • If the centerlines do not touch the route at the extended location, click the Extension Location drop-down arrow and choose Begin or End.
    • You can keep the centerlines chosen after realigning the route. This option is useful if you are realigning a route in the Engineering Stationing network and want to realign another route for the Continuous network using the same centerlines, or vice versa.
    • If the centerline was created as a curve, Pipeline Referencing will convert the curve into a densified polyline feature.
  5. Click the Allow choosing of one or more centerlines button Allow choosing of one or more centerlines.

    A table appears in the Extend Route pane with each chosen centerline in a numbered row that corresponds to the selection order. Chosen centerlines are numbered on the map and highlighted. The Chosen Centerlines count is shown below the table.

    Extend Route pane with multiple centerlines chosen
    Note:

    The Recalibrate route downstream check box appears only when the route is extended at the beginning in a line network. If this option is checked, the measures downstream of the extension are updated.

  6. Optionally, choose one or more rows from the Order column and use the buttons below the table to change the centerline selection order. You can also drag rows to change the order.

    Changes in the table selection order are also shown on the map.

    Tools available in the centerlines table

    ToolTool nameTool description
    Allow choosing of one or more centerlines

    Allow choosing of one or more centerlines

    Allows you to choose the centerlines on the map and displays them in a table by order of selection. Use the move buttons below the table or drag rows to reorder the chosen centerlines.

    Clear the currently chosen centerlines

    Clear the currently chosen centerlines

    Clears the chosen centerlines and keeps the selected centerlines. You can reselect after clicking this button or click the Allow choosing one or more centerlines button a second time.

    Move chosen centerlines up

    Move chosen centerlines up

    Moves one or more selected centerlines up a row in the table order.

    Move chosen centerlines to the top

    Move chosen centerlines to the top

    Moves one or more centerlines to the top of the table order.

    Move chosen centerlines down

    Move chosen centerlines down

    Moves one or more centerlines down a row in the table order.

    Move chosen centerlines to the bottom

    Move chosen centerlines to the bottom

    Moves one or more centerlines to the bottom of the table order.

    Flip the direction of the centerlines

    Flip the direction of the centerlines

    Reverses the direction of the chosen centerlines.

    Remove the chosen centerlines

    Remove the chosen centerlines

    Removes the chosen centerline from the table order but leaves it selected.

    Tip:

    To change the display field in the centerlines table, right-click the centerline feature class in the Contents pane and choose Properties from the context menu. On the Layer Properties dialog box, click the Display tab, and click the Display field drop-down arrow to change its value. In the previous image, the display field is OBJECTID.

  7. Choose the network in which you want to extend a route.
    Note:

    To edit using feature services, the LRS Network must be published with the linear referencing and version management capabilities.

  8. Click the Choose route from map button Choose route from map to choose a route to extend.
    Note:

    After clicking the Choose route from map button Choose route from map, you can hover over the routes to see the route and measure at the location of the pointer.

    If only one applicable route exists at the edit location, click to select it. If multiple routes are applicable, click to choose one of the applicable routes using the Select Route dialog box.

    You can set map scale options for display of route and measure information on the Options dialog box, on the Location Referencing tab.

    Tip:

    You can't extend a route to fill a gap between routes.

  9. Click the Calendar Calendar and choose the start date.
    • Alternatively, provide the date in the Effective Date text box.
    • Double-click the empty Effective Date text box to populate today's date.
  10. Verify that the automatically populated From Measure value appears as expected in the Extended Section.
    • If the route is being extended at the end, the suggested From Measure value is the same as the To Measure value of the original route.
    • If the route is being extended from the beginning, the suggested From Measure value is 0.
  11. Alternatively, you can provide a From Measure value.

    If you do not know the start measure, allow Pipeline Referencing to suggest it. Click the Recalculate From Measure button Recalculate From Measure to do so. This value is calculated as the difference between the To Measure value and the geometric length of the centerline.

    Note:

    For the line network, the measures can be entered as station values in 00+00.00 or 00+00.000 format.

  12. Verify that the automatically populated To Measure value appears as expected in the Extended Section.
    Note:
    • If the route is being extended at the end, the suggested To Measure value is the suggested From Measure value plus the geometric length of the centerline.
    • If the route is being extended from the beginning, the suggested To Measure value is the suggested From Measure value plus the geometric length of the centerline.
  13. Alternatively, you can provide a To Measure value of your choice.

    If you do not know the end measure, allow Pipeline Referencing to suggest it. Click the Recalculate To Measure button Recalculate To Measure to do so. This value is calculated as the sum of the From Measure value and the geometric length of the centerline.

  14. Click Run.
    Note:

    If your route edit will result in the introduction of one or more physical gaps on the route, a prompt appears to alert you before the tool is run. If you don't plan to create a gapped route, answer No and edit the digitized centerlines so that no gaps result during route editing.

    If the route being edited already had one or more physical gaps, and no more physical gaps were introduced by the edit, no prompt will appear.

    You can prevent unplanned centerlines by enabling snapping in the active map, or by enabling snapping using the Edit tab, Snapping group, Snapping button List By Snapping.

    You can disable this warning by unchecking Warn before allowing route edits that can create physical gaps on the Location Referencing tab on the Options dialog box.

    The route is extended. The original route is retired with its To Date populated with the Effective Date. A newly extended route is created with its From Date as the Effective Date, and the To Date set to <NULL>.

    Note:

    If a message regarding acquiring locks or reconciling appears, conflict prevention is enabled.

Extend a route in a utility network dataset

After configuring a utility network for use with Pipeline Referencing using the Configure Utility Network Feature Class tool, use the steps above to extend routes in your dataset's pipeline layer.

The centerlines used to extend a route can have measure values populated before route editing. The coincident points of the centerline features must have the same measures.

Note:

If the measures are not provided using the centerline feature class, the LRS route editing tools provide from and to measures on the route.

In the following example, RouteX can be extended at the beginning using centerlines CL1 and CL2 since their from measures and to measures match. Calibration points are created at the end of each centerline when RouteX is extended.

Example 1: From and to measures of CL1 and CL2 match; the route is extended and new calibration points are added.

In the following example, RouteX can’t be extended at the beginning using centerlines CL1 and CL2 because the from measures and to measures of CL2 and CL3 don’t match.

Example 2: From and to measures of CL2 and CL3 don't match; the route is not extended.

In the following example, RouteX can’t be extended at the beginning using centerlines CL1 and CL2. Even though the coincident points of the centerlines match, the order of their selection (CL2 followed by CL1) causes the extended portion of RouteX to be nonmonotonic.

Example 3: The order of selection, CL2 followed by CL1, causes a nonmonotonic route; the route is not extended.

In the following example, RouteX can’t be extended at the beginning using centerlines CL1 and CL2. Even though the coincident points of the centerlines match, the from measure and to measure of CL2 are the same (19) and cause the extended portion of RouteX to be nonmonotonic.

Example 4: From and to measures of CL2 are the same and cause a nonmonotonic route; the route is not extended.

In the following example, RouteX can’t be extended at the beginning using centerlines CL1 and CL2. Even though the coincident points of the centerlines match, the direction of CL2 is the opposite direction to that of the route.

Example 5: The direction of CL2 is opposite to the direction of the route; the route is not extended.