What are polygon grids?

This topic applies to ArcInfo only.

Polygon grids are grids that are created over a specified extent and stored in a polygon feature class. The grid divides the specified extent into cells so that you can systematically review a large dataset. In the polygon grid, individual grid cells are polygon features that can be attributed and selected. This type of grid can be used with applications such as Data Reviewer and Map Production System (MPS)-Atlas to divide large extents into more manageable sections and define areas of interest for map series.

These grids can be used during Reviewer sessions to manage both visual and automated quality control. With Reviewer, the polygon grid can be associated with the Reviewer table and the grid information associated with individual records. Cells that contain features that have been recorded as records in the Reviewer table have the QC_GRID field populated with polygon grid information.

With MPS-Atlas, the polygon grid can be used to define areas of interest for map sheets in a map series. By using the grid cells as individual extents for the map sheets, you can create map sheets with areas that are a standard size and shape.

There are three major steps when creating a polygon grid:

• Defining the workspace
• Specifying the grid extent—The size of the polygon grid can be defined in several ways: using a bounding box, using selected features, based on the visible extent, or using coordinates
• Configuring the grid layout— The number of rows and columns in the grid can be defined by specifying numbers of column and rows or using the coordinate system.