Keeping X,Y Columns Up To Date
I’m in the process of moving waypoints to a more precise location as noted on our field survey datasheets. Once I move the points, shouldn’t their location be updated in the attribute table? I’m able to move the waypoints in ArcMap but I noticed the location doesn’t get updated so if I load this shape file in another map, it’ll use the unedited locations, correct?
The actual geometry X,Y (position on screen) are in hidden fields, and those are what get changed when editing and moving points. When loading the shapefile or feature class into a new map the hidden geometry fields are used, and the attribute fields are ignored.
The only automatically updated fields in the attribute table are Area, Length, Perimeter (and there are common circumstances where the automatic part doesn’t happen).
It’s best practice to delete the X,Y or Lat,Long fields and refer to the geometry itself. However if they serve an archive function rename them to make it clear they stand for “original observed position”.
In the case attribute X,Y are needed: after every edit session you need to Calculate Geometry to bring the fields up to date: Right-click on column heading >> Calculate Geometry.
