Manage subtypes in ArcGIS Pro

Summary

What are subtypes?

Subtypes are a subset of features in a feature class, or objects in a table, that share the same attributes. They allow one to further categorize data more effectively by finding a similar attribute and organizing each feature by that value, such as buildings, roads, water mains, and so forth.

Subtypes are useful to increase the experience of a geodatabase by visualizing a subset of features in each feature class instead of creating new feature classes for each object. For example, subtypes can be used to further define and organize a building layer to represent the different types of buildings as opposed to having one non-categorized building layer.

For more information on subtypes, refer to ArcGIS Pro: Introduction to subtypes.

How are subtypes created in ArcGIS Pro?

Subtypes can be set up during the creation of a feature class or even after. In this example, a subtype categorizing the campus of the University of California, Irvine (UCI) to represent the main schools such as the School of Physical Science, and Social Science, is created.

To create the subtypes in ArcGIS Pro:

1. Create a feature class by going to the Catalog pane and right-clicking the geodatabase and selected New > Feature Class.
2. This prompts the Create Feature Class dialog; add a new field with either a short or long integer data type. Click Finish.

3. Add the feature class to the Current Map and open the Field pane, which can be seen after selecting the feature class and on the top-most ribbon selecting Data > Fields.
4. Once the Fields pane is open, select the short or long integer field that was created in Step 2, then under the Design subgroup on the ribbon, click the Subtypes icon.

5. The Manage Subtypes pane displays and allow the selection of the Subtype Field and the Default subtype value.

Procedure

Managing subtypes in ArcGIS Pro

Once a subtype has been created, it can be further edited and managed with the Create/Manage button. Once selected, it allows navigation to a specific Subtype Field and setting a Default Subtype when creating features on the map.

1. In the image below of the Manage Subtypes dialog, Schools are selected as a Subtype Field and the Default Subtype is set to <Null>.
2. Under Subtypes, the schools that surround the UCI Main Campus are added by selecting Code, and adding the school name as the Description.
   • To add more subtypes, click the fields under Subtypes and add the appropriate Code and Description.

3. To finish managing a subtype, click OK to exit the Manage Subtypes dialog box. The Manage Subtypes dialog can be revisited, and existing subtypes can be edited.
4. Save the subtype changes or edits. The Save button is located under Changes on the Subtypes tab of the project, as shown in the image below.