An overview of the Topology toolset

This topic applies to ArcEditor and ArcInfo only.

Topology is a collection of rules that, coupled with a set of editing tools and techniques, enables the geodatabase to more accurately model geometric relationships. ArcGIS implements topology through a set of rules that define how features may share a geographic space and a set of editing tools that work with features that share geometry in an integrated fashion. A topology is stored in a geodatabase as one or more relationships that define how the features in one or more feature classes share geometry. The features participating in a topology are still simple feature classes—rather than modifying the definition of the feature class, a topology serves as a description of how the features can be spatially related.

The Topology toolset contains a set of tools that can be used to create and manage a geodatabase topology.

Tool	Description
Add Feature Class To Topology	Adds a feature class to a topology.
Add Rule To Topology	Adds a new rule to a topology.
Create Topology	Creates a topology. The topology will not contain any feature classes or rules.
Remove Feature Class From Topology	Removes a feature class from a topology.
Remove Rule From Topology	Removes a rule from a topology.
Set Cluster Tolerance	Sets the cluster tolerance of a topology.
Validate Topology	Validates a geodatabase topology.

Topology tools