Thanks for the fast responses. I do have ArcInfo, and I used it to create topology as was suggested by one respondent. Now I will try some of the other solutions which seem a little more direct than going to Unix. Thanks to all who responded! Tom Hoffmann >I have created a Land Cover theme in AV3.2. Now as I want to attribute the >polygons I'm running into a problem. If I have a polygon that falls totally >within a larger polygon, when I select the inner polygon it also selects the >larger, outer polygon. In some cases there are may be a third polygon inside >the first two polygons so that if I select the inner most polygon I end up >with three selected polygons. It is most annoying. Is there a way to solve this >problem, or work around the problem? **************************************************************************** tom - the reason you select multiple polygons is because the shapes are on top of each other and don't follow the "old" ArcInfo topology rules. go to the esri arcscripts web page and download the following: select overlap polygon (bill huber) = to find polygon overlaps donutshop (jim keller) = to remove overlapping polygons (clip donut holes) dissect overlaps (bill huber) = remove overlapping polygons these should help you get started. good luck, Pete :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Pete Wilkins GIS Consultant (732)404-2481 pwilkins@rcc.com RCC Consulting, Inc. 100 Woodbridge Center Dr. #102 Woodbridge, NJ 07095 (723)404-2400 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Hello Tom, I use Ianko's Edit Tools. The demo version is free at ESRI. The Clean function should do it. John John Jereczek, PSS Aquatic Ecologist (GIS) Natural Resource Research Institute Duluth, Minnesota ******************************************* Hi, There is a script called donutshop on the esri web page that will essentially cookie cutter out the inner polygons and afterwards it is way easier to select the individual polygons (soemetimes you might have to run the scipt more than once to catch all the polygons, but it's a great tool). If for some reason you don't want to do that, you can also select or unselect the polygons in the table and toggle between the table and the view. Hope that helps. Carole Medlar ------- The solution is to convert your polygons to an ArcInfo coverage which supports topology. Shape files do not support topology and therefore allows you to digitize polygons "on top" of each other and end up with this problem. If you don't have ArcInfo: In ArcView, while digitizing doughnut polygons you need to use the subtract command in ArcView to eliminate the area underneath overlapping polygons. You should also use the append polygon tool when creating adjacent polygons to avoid any slivers between polygons. This needs to be done, otherwise any calculations of area from your shape files will not add up. Check the ArcView online help or manual for mor information on this. There is also a nice AV 3.2 extension of editing tools, for a small fee, available at www.ian-ko.com for advanced editing like this. Dan Seidensticker GIS Specialist City of Madison Planning Unit, Madison Area Metropolitan Planning Organization 217 S. Hamilton Street, Suite 403 Madison, WI 53703 Voice: 608-266-9119 Fax: 608-266-9117 www.ci.madison.wi.us _ A quick fix would be to select all three polygons as you did and then re-select the polygon via the attribute table. You can then select all the polygons you need and write it to a separate shapefile. Rob Lau GIS Specialist State of New Jersey Board of Public Utilities 2 Gateway Center Newark, NJ 07102 973-648-7075 lau@bpu.state.nj.us _ Hello Thomas, Well, your problem is lack of topology. If you have access to ArcInfo you can solve the problem easily -- shapearc the lines (if you don't have lines you can generate them in AV using Xtools [ArcScripts or www.odf.state.or.us/sfgis/] or a polygon to polyline script [check Samples and ArcScripts], now you can build the polygons from the lines in AI, then you have polygons to use in AV and can assign attributes etc. from there. If you don't have access to ArcInfo you can try one of the editing extensions [again check ArcScripts], I believe the DataEdit extension is free and will create topology. If you're checking lists or archives you might want to try keywords like "donut" "topology" "polygons". The list archives might also be a good source, I found this suggestion is my personal "sums" mailbox: Answer: Donut polygons are actually very easy to create; sorry for asking a question that is answered in the AV manual. The answer is on page 272 of the AV 3.x manual. Basicalluy you put the thmee into edit mode select the two features of concern and either use combine, union subtract or intersect from the Edit menu depending on what result you want. Good luck, and I hope you'll sum whatever solution you end up using. Kathi Hannaford, Union Co. GIS khannaford@unionco.org ************************************************* The problem is that you actually have overlapping polygons in your shapefile. To fix this, start editing the shapefile, select the two polygons that over lap, then select 'subtract features' from the edit menu. Bruce Nielsen GIS Specialist USDA-NRCS _ Hello Tom Sometimes one can select the three, then, holding the shift key one can click on the tow larger polygons to unselect them. However, the easiest way I find is to select the three polygons in the view, go to the table and promote them to the top if necessary, then select them one by one until I have the correct one, then go back to the view. Regards Les ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------- From "Les Powrie" http://www.nbi.ac.za/ From Kirstenbosch, the heart and nursery of the Cape Floral Kingdom Tel.: +27+21-799-8703 Fax: +27+21-797-6903 Ecology and Conservation, National Botanical Institute, Private Bag X7, Claremont, 7735 SOUTH AFRICA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------