How to calculate the incidence angle of a polyline?

Question

How can I calculate the angle of each polyline in ArcGIS?

Answer 1

I found a similar question on an ESRI forum that had a good answer. The image below shows a sample polyline dataset to test the field calculator on. The attached code block below calculates the degrees from the x-axis. Try the following steps:

1. Use the Split Line at Vertices tool to create individual line segments from your poly line.
2. Add a field in your attribute table called "angle"
3. Right-click the "angle" field name header and open the field calculator
4. Add the python code to the code block as in the example and click OK
5. You may need to alter the code to meet you specific needs, but this will get you started.