Gaps in polygon after merging

Question

When I use the merge tool on this polygon mesh, I end up with a multipart polygon with large gaps.

Before this, I was getting an error when trying to run a merge or dissolve because of "Polygons with overlapping Z values", so I exported a copy of the feature class without Z values to run the merge on.

Answer 1

I am assuming that what you see is the result of invalid geometries inserted by whatever software created your "polygon mesh".

f you try to compute area, then I expect that you will see negative results for some of the polygons.

Using the Repair Geometry tool will fix it.