Assign alpha designations

Assigning meaningful designations to items of interest in a given area is crucial to the success of a task that involves cataloging items found. Clearing Grids allows you to assign sequential designations to features at the time of collection without directly editing feature attributes.

Set up your data to collect features

Feature classes are used to store designations for points of interest. You can create a feature class or add a field to an existing feature class.

Create a feature class

To create a feature class to store alpha designations, complete the following steps:

  1. On the ribbon, click the tab where you added the Clearing Grids tools, and click Open Clearing Grids Open Clearing Grids.
  2. Click the Alpha button Alpha Designation.
  3. Click the Add New Layer button Add Layer.

    The Select Output dialog box appears.

  4. Type a layer name.
    Note:

    When you create a layer, a field is automatically created to store the values for feature designations.

  5. Click Save.

Add a field to an existing feature class

To add a new field, complete the following steps:

  1. Click the Add Field button Add Field.

    The Add Field dialog box appears.

  2. Type a field name.
  3. Click OK.

Collect points of interest and assign designations

To collect points of interest on a map, complete the following steps:

  1. From the Layer drop-down list, select the layer you will use to collect points of interest.
  2. From the Field drop-down list, select the field that will store designations for points of interest.
  3. Set a Start/Next value.

    After you begin assigning designations, the Start/Next input box can be used to skip values. The Start/Next input box can also be used to preview the next value that will be assigned.

  4. Type values to omit in the Omit Letters input box. Separate the values with commas.
  5. Select a Sequence Type option.
  6. Click the Map Point Tool button Map Point Tool.
  7. Click the map to collect a point of interest.