Unnecessary Polygon Boundaries

Available with ArcGIS Pro Standard and Data Reviewer licenses.

Summary

The Unnecessary Polygon Boundaries check finds polygon features that share a common boundary and contain identical attribute values.

Supported workflows

ArcGIS Data Reviewer checks support multiple methods for implementing automated review of data. The following table identifies the supported implementation methods for this check:

ValidationConstraint

Reviewer batch job

Attribute (validation) rule

Yes

(ArcGIS Pro 3.2 or later)

Yes

Yes

(ArcGIS Pro 2.7 and ArcGIS Enterprise 10.9 or later)

Overview

When polygon features share a common boundary and contain identical attribute values on editable fields, the shared boundary is often unnecessary and is captured as an error. Features found with this check can be merged without a loss of information and can result in enhanced database performance.

A polygon that shares its boundaries with multiple other polygons may produce either one or multiple error results.

The following images illustrate this:

Polygon that shares its boundaries with multiple other polygons and produces one error
Polygon that shares its boundaries with multiple other polygons and produces two errors

Syntax

ParameterRequiredDescriptionWorkflow

Subtype

No

The subtype to which the rule is applied.

Validation

Attribute

No

A query that identifies the features to which the rule is applied.

Validation

Attributes to Ignore

No

The attribute values to ignore when evaluating for unnecessary polygon boundaries.

The attribute values to ignore during evaluation. Only editable fields can be ignored.

Validation

Name

No

A unique name for the rule.

This information is used to support data quality requirement traceability, automated reporting, and corrective workflows.

Validation

Description

No

A description of the error you define when a noncompliant feature is found.

This information is used to provide guidance to facilitate corrective workflows.

Validation

Severity

No

The severity of the error assigned when a noncompliant feature is found.

This value indicates the importance of the error relative to other errors. Values range from 1 to 5, with 1 being the highest priority and 5 being the lowest.

Validation

Tags

No

The tag property of the rule.

This information is used in rule authoring and management workflows to support traceability and reporting of data quality requirements.

Validation

Notes

Keep the following in mind when using the check:

  • The Validation Status attribute value of input features is ignored during evaluation. For example, input features with a validation status of 0 (No calculation required, no validation required, no error), 1 (No calculation required, no validation required, has error(s)),4 (Calculation required, no validation required, no error), or 5 (Calculation required, no validation required, has error(s)) are still included during rule evaluation.
  • The Attribute filter parameter is limited to comparison (=, <>, >, <, >=, <=) and logical (AND/OR, IN/NOT IN, LIKE/NOT LIKE, IS NULL) operators.
  • GUID data types are ignored during evaluation.
  • The Attribute and the Attributes to Ignore filter parameters do not support the following field types: Big Integer, Date Only, Time Only, and Timestamp Offset.

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