AIDAN ACKERMANAssistant Professor of Landscape Architecture, SUNY College of Environmental Science and ForestrySyracuse, NY
This site is a place to share my landscape visualization research Network:            
Clipping Data to a Shape in ArcGIS Pro
To begin this tutorial, you should already have data loaded into ArcGIS Pro.




1. Click on the View tab at the top of the interface, and then select Catalog Pane.



2. In the Catalog Pane, make sure that you  have selected  Computer.  








3. Right-click on the folder where your map is located, and select New  -> Shapefile.




4. In the Geoprocessing pane, create a name for the shapefile you are going to create. Click on the globe icon to select a coordinate system, and then click Run.

See steps 5-6 for information on setting the coordinate system.










5. SETTING THE COORDINATE SYSTEM - 1

In the search bar next to XY Coordinate Systems Available, type in the state where your map is located*, then hit Enter to search.  After hitting enter it will seem like nothing has happened - don’t worry!



*for non-US maps, coordinate systems vary by data source and project type.







6. SETTING THE COORDINATE SYSTEM - 2

Now, expand the menu by clicking on the triangle to the right of Projected Coordinate System.  Expand State Plane, then NAD 1983 (US Feet) and click on the region of the state that applies to your project. Then click OK.

If you are going to be working in this geographic region frequently, you can click the star to the right of the name of the region to save it to Favorites. This saves you the time of searching for it in the future.



Don’t forget to click Run after these steps are complete.




7. You should now see your new shapefile in the Contents (on the left of the workspace). It is empty but soon you will use it to create geometry.


 8. You should also see the new shapefile in the Catalog pane.


 9. Go to the Edit tab and click on Create.




10. In the Create Features pane, click on the shapefile you want to use to create geometry.
11. Once the shapefile is clicked, a small pane will display where you can choose drawing options. As an example, we will select the rectangle option.
12. Draw a shape. The shape should cover the area of the map that you would like to clip out and keep. When you are satisfied, click the green checkbox. You can also click the black “X” to exit the drawing operation.
13. Now it is time to use the shape to clip out part of the map. In the ribbon, select the Analysis pane, and click on Tools.


14. In the Geoprocessing pane, click on Toolboxes. Expand Analysis Tools, then expand Extract. Double-click on Clip.






15. Populate the fields with information:

  • In the “Input Features or Dataset” field, use the dropdown menu to select the feature you want to clip.
  • In the “Clip Features” field, use the dropdown menu to select the clipping shape.
  • In the “Output Features or Dataset” field, allow this to auto-populate and leave it alone.




 165. Click Run.




17. When the operation has successfully completed, you should see a new feature with only the clipped information.