Why does Erase give ERROR 999999 (Error executing function Invalid Topology Negative point valence)?

Question

I am getting the following error when I try to erase a set of data from a file within a gdb. Any idea on what to do? I have done repair geometry multiple times on the input/erase datasets. I have 16GB RAM and close to a TB of free space. The dataset is approx 1.6m records. Arcmap 10 sp3. BTW how do I see the size of a dataset within a gdb?

Executing (Erase): Erase D:\SCRATCH\Projects\106\data\7_Merge.gdb\mergeall_1 D:\SCRATCH\Projects\106\data\5b_ReclassVector.gdb\Lidar_d2b d:\SCRATCH\Projects\106\data\6_Erase.gdb\srtm_m10m_e "1 Meters" Start Time: Sat Oct 15 02:53:38 2011 Reading Features... Processing Tiles... ERROR 999999: Error executing function. Invalid Topology [Negative point valence.] Failed to execute (Erase).

Answer 1

The basic reason for this seems to be just the size of the dataset.

See Why Intersect gives ERROR 999999: Error executing function Invalid Topology [Too many lineseg endpoints]?

There are some other workarounds, none of them bulletproof, suggested in Invalid Topology [Topoengine error] from ArcGIS for Desktop?

Answer 2

Ah, the 999999 error. I agree, probably the size of the dataset. I've encountered that error a few times with complicated buffers. Not sure if it's memory related. I have gotten that error on a machine with 2gb ram, then tried it on a different one with 4gb and it's successful. 16gb ram? You're running 64bit?