Perform Overlay

This Workflow Designer activity compares the spatial relationship of two layers or feature classes. For information about the overlay operation, see About Overlays.

The output of this activity is a new Display Manager layer that is the result of the Overlay operation.

Data Type

Specify whether the overlay compares feature classes or Display Manager layers. Both the source and overlay must be the same type (you cannot compare a feature class to a layer).

Source/Overlay

If you select Layers as the Data Type, select the Source Layer and Overlay Layer. These layers are the output of preceding Add Feature Layer activities.

If you select Feature Classes as the Data Type select a Source Feature Class ID (the output of a preceding activity). Then select the Source Feature Source for that feature class (if it is not selected automatically). Do the same for the Overlay Feature Class.

Output File

Enter a location and file name for the output (overlay) SDF file. Click to navigate to a location.

Overlay Type

Select the type of comparison to do. For a complete description of these options, see About Overlays.

Optional Parameters
  • Display Name: Enter a title for this activity.
  • Sliver Tolerance: Specify when small polygons resulting from the overlay operation become separate features and when they are added to larger polygons.
    • Units: Select the units used in determining the sliver Minimum and Maximum settings. The coordinate system determines the available choices for the source layer. If the sliver roundness is higher than the Maximum value, it becomes a separate polygon in the output. If the sliver roundness is lower than the Minimum value, it merges with its neighbor polygon in the output. To see reasonable values for the selected data set, click Suggest. To ignore slivers, click Don’t Remove Slivers.
  • Ordinate Tolerance: Specify when two nodes or vertices of a line or polygon are treated as separate points.
    • Units: Select the units used in determining the Length setting. The coordinate system determiens the available choices for the source layer.
    • Length : Set the minimum distance at which two nodes or vertices of a line or polygon are treated as separate points. The default value is determined from the spatial context for the sources.
  • Output Properties: Specify which properties from the source and (if applicable) overlay inputs are included in the output. “Identifiers Only” writes the primary identifiers to the output. “Non-Identifiers” writes only the non-key attributes (creating auto-generated primary identifiers for the output features). The default value is “All”.
Prompt For Parameters At Run Time

Select this option to pause for input at run time.