Analyzing a schematic diagram

Several commands are available in ArcMap and ArcCatalog to help you in analyzing your schematic diagram content. There are tools/commands to help you explore the schematic features contained in your diagrams and some others for tracing your schematic diagrams and highlighting their connectivity properties. In the following sections, you will learn more about those tools and commands.

Exploring schematic features contained in schematic diagrams

Identifying a schematic feature

The standard Identify tool available in ArcMap and ArcCatalog is what you'll use to identify schematic features contained in a schematic diagram and explore their related objects. When using the Identify tool on a schematic feature, you get the following:

• All the schematic attributes for the clicked schematic feature
• The attributes brought by the real feature(s)/object(s) that is/are associated with it (when such feature(s)/object(s) exist)
• The attributes brought by the features in relation with it (when the identified schematic feature is related to other features)

Learn more about using the Identify tool.

Exploring schematic features

When a schematic diagram opens in ArcMap, it is displayed in a schematic layer. Working with the attribute tables from the feature layers that composed this schematic layer can also be a user-friendly way to get information on schematic features contained in your schematic diagram, analyze the schematic feature attributes, perform queries, make selections, create graphs, and so on. To learn more about working with attribute tables, open the "Viewing tables in ArcMap" section in the Adding and viewing tables in ArcMap topic and its related topics.

Propagating schematic selection to map

The Propagate Schematic Selection To Map command, which is a specific Schematics command available from the Schematic toolbar, can also be useful to find and locate all the geographic features associated with the schematic features currently selected in the active schematic diagram and select them accordingly in the map.

Conversely, the Propagate Map Selection To Map command may be used to propagate the geographic features selected in the map to the open schematic diagrams.

To learn more about these commands, open the "Searching associated geographical features/schematic features commands" section in the Commands available from the Schematic toolbar in ArcMap topic.

Performing schematic analyst trace tasks to analyze schematic diagram content

The Schematic Network Analyst toolbar regroups a set of schematic analyst trace tasks that can be performed on the active schematic diagram and help you analyze the schematic diagram content. Four types of schematic analyst trace tasks can be applied:

• Find Connected
• Find Path
• Find Loops
• Find Overlapping Links

For each of them, the result is returned as a selection set so that after starting an editing session on the diagram, you can directly operate on the resulting schematic features using any schematic refining tool or applying any schematic layout to it. Learn how to perform a schematic analyst trace task.

The Find Connected schematic analyst trace task

The Find Connected schematic analyst trace task returns all schematic features connected to a given schematic node in the active diagram. The schematic node from which you want the trace task operation to start must be selected in the active diagram when the Find Connected schematic analyst trace task is performed. The trace task can take the flow direction into account or not as specified on the Find Connected schematic analyst trace task Properties tab.

If more than one schematic node is selected in the active diagram, the algorithm considers each selected node as a root from which a Find Connected schematic analyst trace task is launched. If schematic links are selected in the diagram when the Find Connected schematic analyst trace task is performed, they are interpreted as "barriers" that will stop the trace from being executed beyond them.

Note:

When links are selected to be treated as barriers, those barrier links are removed from the resulting selection set at the end of the treatment; only the schematic features detected by the analysis trace task are selected.

Learn more about the Find Connected trace task properties.

The Find Path schematic analyst trace task

The Find Path schematic analyst trace task is used to detect the shortest path between two schematic nodes in the schematic network represented in the active diagram. The start and end schematic nodes from which you want the trace task operation to work must be selected in the active diagram when the Find Path schematic analyst trace task is performed.

The schematic analyst trace task cannot be performed if more than two schematic nodes are selected in the active diagram. If schematic links are selected in the diagram when the Find Path schematic analyst trace task is performed, they are interpreted as barriers that will stop the trace from being executed beyond them.

Note:

When schematic links are selected to be treated as barriers, those barrier links are removed from the resulting selection set at the end of the treatment; only the schematic features detected by the analysis trace task are selected.

Learn more about the Find Path trace task properties.

The Find Loops schematic analyst trace task

The Find Loops schematic analyst trace task detects all loops in the active schematic diagram.

If schematic links are selected in the diagram when the Find Loops schematic analyst trace task is performed, they are interpreted as barriers that will stop the trace from being executed beyond them.

Note:

When schematic links are selected to be treated as barriers, those barrier links are removed from the resulting selection set at the end of the treatment; only the schematic features detected by the analysis trace task are selected.

Learn more about the Find Loops trace task properties.

The Find Overlapping Links schematic analyst trace task

The Find Overlapping Links schematic analyst trace task detects all the schematic links that are overlapping in the active schematic diagram. Two schematic links are said to overlap when they respect three conditions:

1. The connect to the same schematic nodes.
2. They have the same number of vertices; that is, the same number of intermediate link points.
3. All their vertices overlap.

Conditions #1 and #2 are necessary. For condition#3, a specific parameter can be specified so vertices that don't exactly overlap are still considered as overlapping vertices.

Tip:

After starting an edit session on your schematic diagram, applying the Separate Overlapping Links schematic layout algorithm on the resulting selection set allows you to separate the detected overlapping links.

Learn more about the Find Overlapping Links trace task properties.

Learn about the Separate Overlapping Links schematic layout algorithm.