Determining if shapefile has elevation or z coordinate values stored using ArcGIS Desktop?

Question

I have a water main (line feature) that I wanted to get the elevation. As this is a subsurface feature I can't use any surface file to find these calculations. I wanted to use the calculate geometry tool to find the Z coordinate but that is not available.

It will allow me to calculate X & Y for start, mid pt, and end pt, so I'm assuming that this shapefile does not have elevation information stored in it?

How can I confirm that this shapefile only has X-Y information stored?

Answer 1

Your question title and content are a little ambiguous as to what you are asking. As for checking to see if a shapefile has z information, which seems to be your ultimate question, is as follows:

Open the shapefile in ArcMap, go to the layer properties (right-click -> properties, or simply double-click) and go to the source tab. Look under Data Source, and see if 'Coordinates have Z values'