Digitizing Lines
This tutorial walks through the process of digitizing lines using the tools available in ArcGIS to create features.
Included in this tutorial:
Setting Up for Digitizing
Adding Line Features
Modifying and Deleting Line Features
Additional digitization tools
Software version in examples: ArcGIS Pro 3.5.0
Credits: Sally Kaye and L. Meisterlin (2026)
Related Tutorials:
The overall process of digitizing is simple:
Access the Create Features pane.
Add and edit features within your editable layer.
Save changes to your editable layer.
Setting Up for Digitizing
To access the Create Features pane, click Edit in the top ribbon > Create.
activating the Create Features pane
In the Create Features pane, select the data layer to add digitized lines to by clicking the layer name. In this example, we select the “Test Lines” feature class, which has already been created.
options for creating line features
Clicking on a layer will open digitization options for the corresponding data type. You can hover over each icon to find descriptions of these options and decide which best suits your needs. In this tutorial, we click the first icon to use the Line tool, which creates a line feature with one or more straight segments.
Adding Line Features
With the Line tool activated, your cursor will become a crosshair in the map view. This means you are ready to start creating line features.
Click anywhere in the map frame to add the start point of the line. Continue clicking to add vertices/an endpoint to your line feature. You will notice that one line feature can consist of one or multiple line segments.
In this example, we are digitizing a line feature on an empty map. More likely, you may be digitizing features by tracing over a basemap or other layers.
Note:In the example below, we digitize a line feature with two segments by clicking three times before “finishing” the feature.
Once you are satisfied with the line feature you’ve drawn, right-click on the map frame and click Finish.
creating and saving line feature
The right-click menu also contains other options to explore, depending on the end goal for your project. For example, if you would like to create a multipart line feature (one feature with two or more unattached parts), draw your first line, right-click on the map frame, and then click Finish Part before repeating with other desired lines in the feature. When you each of the parts have been digitized, click Finish.
canceling unsaved line features
If you are dissatisfied with the line you’ve created, right-click anywhere on the map frame and click Cancel to remove your work.
Modifying and Deleting Line Features
Modifying Features
If you aren’t happy with your line or segments, they can be changed using tools from the Modify Features pane. To open this pane and view a list of tools and options to modify the geometry of your line features, click Edit > Modify. You can get more information about each option by hovering over its icon.
accessing the Modify Features pane to edit your line features
Deleting Features
Line features can also be deleted from the data layer. Select the feature(s) to be deleted, then click Edit > Delete.
finding the delete button in the Edit ribbon
Snapping
Depending on the nature of your work, it may be beneficial to have the lines you’re creating snap to themselves, to other lines in the feature class, or to features in other feature classes. (Snapping allows you to maintain topologically accurate geometries and avoid generating “spaghetti data.”)
adjusting your snapping settings
You can adjust your snapping settings by navigating to Edit (from the top ribbon) > Snapping. You will see there are a number of snapping options available to you. You can hover over each icon to learn more, and decide which may be most helpful for you, given the nature of your work.