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Trace (Trace Network Tools)

Summary

Returns selected features in a trace network based on connectivity or traversability from the specified starting points.

The trace capabilities of the trace network allow you to analyze paths in your network. Traversability refers to paths established by connected features that also meet configuration requirements.

By default, trace results are returned as a selection and include the entire line feature. To return partial feature results, set the Result Types parameter to Aggregate Geometry. When a starting point or barrier is placed on a junction with midspan connectivity, trace results will return partial elements of the edge feature. When a barrier is placed along an edge, trace results can be stopped at the nearest junction with midspan connectivity. The resulting selection set or output feature class generated by the trace can then be propagated to another map, propagated to a diagram view of the network, or used as input to another tool or trace.

Learn more about tracing a trace network

Usage

  • The network topology must be enabled.

  • When working with an enterprise geodatabase, an input trace network must be from a feature service; a trace network from a database connection is not supported.

  • Because the Trace tool relies on the network topology, the trace results are not guaranteed to be accurate if dirty areas exist in the trace extent. The network topology for the area to be traced must be validated to reflect the most recent edits or updates to the network.

  • When working with network attributes assigned to a date field for condition barriers, function barriers, functions, and output conditions, format the date value as yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss, for example, 2020-10-12 18:45:31.

Parameters

Label Explanation Data type

Input Trace Network

The trace network on which the trace will be run. When working with an enterprise geodatabase, an input trace network must be from a feature service; a trace network from a database connection is not supported.

Trace Network; Trace Network Layer

Trace Type

Specifies the type of trace to execute.

  • Connected—A connected trace that begins at one or more starting points and spans outward along connected features will be used.

  • Upstream—An upstream trace that discovers features upstream from a location in the network will be used. This type of trace requires the flow direction to be set.

  • Downstream—A downstream trace that discovers features downstream from a location in the network will be used. This type of trace requires the flow direction to be set.

  • Shortest path—A shortest path trace that finds the shortest path between two starting points in the network regardless of flow direction will be used. The cost of traversing the path is determined based on the network attribute set for the Shortest Path Network Attribute Name parameter.

  • Connected—A connected trace that begins at one or more starting points and spans outward along connected features will be used.

  • Upstream—An upstream trace that discovers features upstream from a location in the network will be used. This type of trace requires the flow direction to be set.

  • Downstream—A downstream trace that discovers features downstream from a location in the network will be used. This type of trace requires the flow direction to be set.

  • Shortest path—A shortest path trace that finds the shortest path between two starting points in the network regardless of flow direction will be used. The cost of traversing the path is determined based on the network attribute set for the shortest_path_network_attribute_name parameter.

String

Starting Points

A feature layer created using the Starting Points tab in the Trace Locations pane, or a table or feature class containing one or more records that represent the starting points of the trace. The TN_Temp_Starting_Points feature class is used by default and is generated in the default geodatabase of the project when you create starting points using the Starting Points tool in the Trace Locations pane.

Feature Layer; Table View

Barriers

(Optional)

A table or feature class containing one or more features that represent the barriers of the trace that prevent the trace from traversing beyond that point. The TN_Temp_Barriers feature class is used by default and is generated in the default geodatabase of the project when you create barriers using the Barriers tab in the Trace Locations pane.

Feature Layer; Table View

Path Direction

(Optional)

Specifies the direction of the trace path. The cost of traversing the path is determined by the Shortest Path Network Attribute Name parameter value. This parameter is only honored when running a Shortest path trace type.

  • No direction—The path between the two starting points, regardless of the direction of flow, will be used. This is the default.

  • Upstream path—The upstream path between the two starting points will be used.

  • Downstream path—The downstream path between the two starting points will be used.

String

Shortest Path Network Attribute Name

(Optional)

The name of the network attribute used to calculate the path. When running a shortest path trace type, the shortest path is calculated using a numeric network attribute such as shape length. Cost and distance based paths can both be achieved. This parameter is required when running a shortest path trace.

String

Include Barrier Features

(Optional)

Specifies whether the traversability barrier features will be included in the trace results.

  • Checked—Traversability barrier features will be included in the trace results. This is the default.

  • Unchecked—Traversability barrier features will not be included in the trace results.

Boolean

Validate Consistency

(Optional)

Specifies whether an error will be returned if dirty areas are encountered in any of the traversed features. This is the only way to guarantee a trace is passing through features with consistent status in the network. To remove dirty areas, validate the network topology.

  • Checked—The trace will return an error if dirty areas are encountered in any of the traversed features. This is the default.

  • Unchecked—The trace will return results regardless of whether dirty areas are encountered in any of the traversed features.

Boolean

Ignore Barriers At Starting Points

(Optional)

Specifies whether barriers in the trace configuration will be ignored for starting points.

  • Checked—Barriers at starting points will be ignored in the trace.

  • Unchecked—Barriers at starting points will not be ignored in the trace. This is the default.

Boolean

Allow Indeterminate Flow

(Optional)

Specifies whether features with indeterminate or uninitialized flow will be traced. This parameter is only honored when running an upstream or downstream trace.

  • Checked—Features with indeterminate or uninitialized flow direction will be traced.

  • Unchecked—Features with indeterminate or uninitialized flow direction will not be traced. This is the default.

Boolean

Condition Barriers

(Optional)

Sets a traversability barrier condition on features based on a comparison to a network attribute. A condition barrier uses a network attribute, an operator and a type, and an attribute value. For example, stop a trace when a feature has the Code attribute equal to the specific value of ArtificialPath. When a feature meets this condition, the trace stops. If you're using more than one attribute, you can use the Combine Using parameter to define an And or an Or condition.

Value table columns:

  • Name—Filter by network attribute name.

  • Operator—Filter by an operator.

    • Is equal to—The attribute is equal to the value.

    • Does not equal—The attribute is not equal to the value.

    • Is greater than—The attribute is greater than the value.

    • Is greater than or equal to—The attribute is greater than or equal to the value.

    • Is less than—The attribute is less than the value.

    • Is less than or equal to—The attribute is less than or equal to the value.

  • Type—Filter by a specific type.

    • Specific value—Filter by a specific value.

    • Network attribute—Filter by a network attribute.

  • Value—Filter by a specific value.

  • Combine Using—Combine multiple condition barriers.

    • And—Combine the condition barriers.

    • Or—Use if either condition barrier is met.

Value Table

Function Barriers

(Optional)

Sets a traversability barrier on features based on a function. Function barriers can be used, for example, to restrict how far the trace travels from the starting point or to set a maximum value to stop a trace. For example, the length of each line traveled is added to the total distance traveled so far. When the total length traveled reaches the value specified, the trace stops.

Value table columns:

  • Function—Filter by a function.

    • Min—The minimum of the input values.

    • Max—The maximum of the input values.

    • Average—The average of the input values.

    • Count—The number of features.

    • Add—Add the values.

    • Subtract—Subtract the values.

  • Attribute—Filter by a network attribute.

  • Operator—Filter by an operator.

    • Is equal to—The attribute is equal to the value.

    • Does not equal—The attribute is not equal to the value.

    • Is greater than—The attribute is greater than the value.

    • Is greater than or equal to—The attribute is greater than or equal to the value.

    • Is less than—The attribute is less than the value.

    • Is less than or equal to—The attribute is less than or equal to the value.

  • Value—Filter by a specific value.

  • Use Local Values—Boolean value to use local variables instead of a global variable.

Value Table

Apply Traversability To

(Optional)

Specifies the type of traversability that will be applied. Traversability scope determines whether traversability is applied to junctions, edges, or both. For example, in a network of recreational trails, if a condition barrier is defined to stop a trace if a surfacetype attribute contains a value of gravel and the traversability scope is set to junctions only, the trace will not stop even if it encounters an edge feature with this value in the surfacetype field, because the surfacetype attribute is only applicable to edges.

  • Both junctions and edges—Traversability will be applied to both junctions and edges. This is the default.

  • Junctions only—Traversability will be applied to junctions only.

  • Edges only—Traversability will be applied to edges only.

String

Functions

(Optional)

The calculation function or functions that will be applied to the trace results.

Value table columns:

  • Function—Filter by a function.

    • Min—The minimum of the input values.

    • Max—The maximum of the input values.

    • Average—The average of the input values.

    • Count—The number of features.

    • Add—The sum of the values.

    • Subtract—The difference between the values.

  • Attribute—Filter by a network attribute

  • Filter Name—Filter by attribute name.

  • Filter Operator—Filter by an operator.

    • Is equal to—The attribute is equal to the value.

    • Does not equal—The attribute is not equal to the value.

    • Is greater than—The attribute is greater than the value.

    • Is greater than or equal to—The attribute is greater than or equal to the value.

    • Is less than—The attribute is less than the value.

    • Is less than or equal to—The attribute is less than or equal to the value.

  • Filter Type—Filter by attribute type.

    • Specific value—Filter by a specific value.

    • Network attribute—Filter by a network attribute.

  • Filter Value—Filter by a specific value.

  • Function Name—The name for the alias to describe the function result.

Value Table

Output Conditions

(Optional)

The types of features that will be returned based on a network attribute. For example, in a trace configured to filter out everything but Tap features, any traced features that do not have the Tap attribute assigned to them are not included in the results. Any traced features that do are returned in the result selection set.

Value table columns:

  • Name—Filter by network attribute name.

  • Operator—Filter by an operator.

    • Is equal to—The attribute is equal to the value.

    • Does not equal—The attribute is not equal to the value.

    • Is greater than—The attribute is greater than the value.

    • Is greater than or equal to—The attribute is greater than or equal to the value.

    • Is less than—The attribute is less than the value.

    • Is less than or equal to—The attribute is less than or equal to the value.

  • Type—Filter by a specific type.

    • Specific value—Filter by a specific value.

    • Network attribute—Filter by a network attribute.

  • Value—Filter by a specific value.

  • Combine Using—Combine multiple conditions.

    • And—Combine the conditions.

    • Or—Use if either condition is met.

Value Table

Result Types

(Optional)

Specifies the type of results that will be returned by the trace.

  • Selection—The trace results will be returned as a selection set on the appropriate network features. This is the default.

  • Aggregated Geometry—The trace results will be aggregated by geometry type and stored in feature classes displayed in layers in the active map.

  • Network Layers—The trace results will be added to feature layers as a selection set in a group layer.

  • Connectivity—The trace results will be returned as a connectivity graph in a specified output .json file. This option enables the Output JSON parameter.

  • Elements—The trace results will be returned as feature-based information in a specified output .json file. This option enables the Output JSON parameter.

String

Selection Type

Specifies how the selection will be applied and what to do if a current selection exists.

  • New selection—The resulting selection will replace the current selection. This is the default.

  • Add to the current selection—The resulting selection will be added to the current selection if one exists. If no selection exists, this is the same as the new selection option.

  • Remove from the current selection—The resulting selection will be removed from the current selection. If no selection exists, this option has no effect.

  • Select subset from the current selection—The resulting selection will be combined with the current selection. Only records that are common to both remain selected.

  • Switch the current selection—The resulting selection will be switched. Results that were selected are removed from the current selection, while results that were not selected are added to the current selection. If no selection exists, this is the same as the new selection option.

String

Clear All Previous Trace Results

(Optional)

Specifies whether content will be truncated from or appended to the feature classes chosen to store aggregated geometry. This parameter is only applicable to the aggregated geometry result type.

  • Checked—The feature classes storing aggregated trace geometry will be truncated. Only the output geometry from the current trace operation will be written. This is the default.

  • Unchecked—The output geometry from the current trace operation will be appended to the feature classes storing aggregated geometry.

Boolean

Trace Name

(Optional)

The name of the trace operation. This value is stored in the TRACENAME field of the output feature class to assist with identification of the trace results. This parameter is only applicable to the aggregated geometry result type.

String

Aggregated Points

(Optional)

An output multipoint feature class containing the aggregated result geometry. By default, the parameter is populated with a system-generated feature class named Trace_Results_Aggregated_Points that will be stored in the project's default geodatabase.

This feature class will be created automatically if it does not exist. An existing feature class can also be used to store aggregated geometry. If a feature class other than the default is used, it must be a multipoint feature class and contain a string field named TRACENAME. This parameter is only applicable to the aggregated geometry result type.

Feature Class

Aggregated Lines

(Optional)

An output polyline feature class containing the aggregated result geometry. By default, the parameter is populated with a system-generated feature class named Trace_Results_Aggregated_Lines that will be stored in the project's default geodatabase.

This feature class will be created automatically if it does not exist. An existing feature class can also be used to store aggregated geometry. If a feature class other than the default is used, it must be a polyline feature class and contain a string field named TRACENAME. This parameter is only applicable to the aggregated geometry result type.

Feature Class

Output Group Layer Name

(Optional)

The name of the output group layer that contains feature layers with selection sets of features returned by the trace. The layer provides access to work with the output of a trace in ModelBuilder and Python.

This parameter is only applicable to the network layers result type.

Group Layer

Use Trace Configuration

(Optional)

Specifies whether an existing named trace configuration will be used to populate the parameters of the Trace tool.

Note:

This parameter requires Trace Network Version 2 or later.

  • Checked—An existing named trace configuration will be used to define the properties of the trace. All parameters except Trace Configuration Name, Starting Points, and Barriers will be ignored.

  • Unchecked—An exiting named trace configuration will not be used to define the properties of the trace. This is the default.

Boolean

Trace Configuration Name

(Optional)

The name of the trace configuration that will be used to define the properties of the trace. This parameter is only active when the Use Trace Configuration parameter is checked.

Note:

This parameter requires Trace Network Version 2 or later.

String

Output JSON

(Optional)

The name and location of the .json file that will be generated.

File

Derived output

Label Explanation Data type

Updated Trace Network

The updated trace network.

Any Value

Environments

This tool does not use any geoprocessing environments.

Licensing information

  • Basic: Limited
    Supported in an enterprise deployment when using ArcGIS Enterprise named user licensing.
  • Standard: Yes
  • Advanced: Yes