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I would like to find a way to convert an Edge of Pavement layer into polygons that would represent the total paved area. It's a large shapefile, covering some 100 sq miles or so, so doing anything manually is out of the question.

I've tried the Feature to Polygon tool but got the result below. The blue lines are the edges of pavement and the tan represents the polygons that were created. Not only did the tool not fill in the spaces between the lines, but it left large gaps throughout the rest of the area as well (in white).

output of feature to polygon tool

I also tried downloading and using the Split Polygons by Lines tool found here, placing a large square polygon beneath all of the lines. Unfortunately this tool has been processing for hours and doesn't appear to be working. Perhaps I have too may lines processing at once and I need to split it into smaller segments.

Just wondering if road polygons are something anyone else has created. I ultimately am looking to make a layer of impervious surface by combining these polygons with a buildings layer.

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  • have you tryied to do a biggest rectangle around the area, just to close the lines at the ends? the end of the roads..
    – Nelly
    Jul 15, 2015 at 20:10
  • Hmm could you explain what you mean by biggest rectangle? The ends of the roads are already closed as far as I can see.
    – eplanner
    Jul 15, 2015 at 20:13
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    Nelly Ramirez may be referring to the Minimum Bounding Geometry tool (ArcToolbox>Data Management Tools>Features)
    – Adam
    Jul 16, 2015 at 3:51
  • Can you provide some more detail on the Edge of Pavement data? Attributes, Geometry type etc?
    – Adam
    Jul 16, 2015 at 3:53
  • Feature to polygon will only convert fully enclosed areas. From your current results, it appears you have some geometry cleaning to do. Those gaps in the middle indicate something isn't snapped/closed on that block's boundary (the one on the right is obvious). It also appears to be misinterpreting what is 'inside' vs 'outside'. There's a few ways to do this, some of which depend on whether you have an Advanced license or not - FtP would indicate you do. You could use the polygons you have generated (with some correction to Erase from a larger outline polygon (aggregate polys) to get streets.
    – Chris W
    Jul 18, 2015 at 19:49

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Maybe your lines are not closed! add a rectangle around and check it with zoom maybe your lines are not connected to each other.

enter image description here

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    And put a point inside your pavements then when using 'feature to polygon' check the box 'label features' to copy the attributes... you will still get non-pavement polygons but by labeling these will be unattributed and easy to select by attributes to remove. Beware that some ends may not be fully snapped creating 'leaking' polygons but that is a separate question if Nelly's fix doesn't completely address the issue.
    – Michael Stimson
    Jul 15, 2015 at 22:27

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