What are straight line diagrams?

Since point and line events are based on relative, rather than geographic, locations, a map is not always the most intuitive way to work with them. Many users prefer to interact with their events in the form of a schematic view that shows the events relative to a two-point representation of their centerline. This can be done using a straight line diagram.

A straight line diagram depicts a linear feature, such as a road, as a straight line. Such diagrams are usually produced by a highway department and display features along the road, including bridges and intersecting roads. Rows in the diagram show data about the road, which can include speed limits, the number of lanes, bridge numbers, and historical data.

Straight line diagrams have two primary purposes. The first purpose is data production. When there are many types of events you are managing for a linear referencing route feature, it becomes difficult to visualize and edit this information when you are working with a view of the data that represents the true geometry of the route. By creating a straight line diagram, each aspect of the data appears as a separate line, which allows easy access to the information for editing. The second purpose is for creating a hard-copy map book where each page displays a different route or section of a route.