[GIS] Cut layer into many parts using shapefile

arcgis-10.0arcgis-desktopclipsplitting

I have a layer which is a map of a town, and a shapefile which shows the boundaries within that town.

I wish to cut the layer up along each of the internal boundaries so that I end up with many layers, each containing the map of one small area as defined by shapefile. I know that I can use the clip tool to cut the map to the shape of the whole shape file, but I don't know how you use the boundaries contained within the shapefile to cut the map.

I am using ArcGIS Desktop 10 SP5 with the ArcView License

Best Answer

Since you mentioned that you have updated to an ArcInfo license, I would recommend looking into a script tool called Split Layer By Attributes from ESRI's Geoprocessing Model and Script Tool Gallery. The general workflow for this tool is as follows:

  1. Use Union or Intersect to assign attributes from your boundaries shapefile to your town shapefile.
  2. Run Split Layer By Attributes to export individual shapefiles based on an attribute field.
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