Composite templates

When creating features, the geometry of one type of features is often associated with the geometry of another type of feature. For example, a coastline feature is often used to represent the boundary of an island or a hydrant point is often at the end of a hydrant lateral. Composite templates allow you create multiple features from one edit sketch. They are created by choosing two or more feature templates and specifying what construction tool will be used when the features are created.

As with feature templates, composite templates define all the information required to create features: the layers where features will be stored, the attributes each feature is created with, and the default tool used to create the features. Composite templates have a unique set of construction tools that determine the geometric relationships between the features that are created.

A composite template is a group of feature templates with a unique set of construction tools. Using the Create Composite Template tool, you can create a new composite template. The name and display symbol are used to determine how the composite template will be displayed on the Create tab. The template list is populated with all the templates, and you can choose two or more templates per composite template. The default construction tool should also be selected to define how the features will be created. For some types of construction tools, such as point at line start\end, the order of the templates matters. The order can be set using the arrow buttons next to the template list.

Once the composite template is created, you choose it as the target template. How the features will be created is determined by the construction tool you choose. For example, if your composite template is composed of a point and a line template, you can choose a construction tool that will create the point at the beginning of the line, at the middle of the line, or at every vertex of the line.

Note:

Composite templates are only available through the Create tab on the Manage Features window when you are using Production Mapping. You cannot use them from the Create Features window in ArcMap.