Clipping Features
Included in this tutorial:
Accessing and running the clip tool
Software version in examples: ArcGIS Pro 2.8.2
Tutorial Data: The tutorial includes demonstration with sample data available here.
Credits: L. Meisterlin with Moses Levich, Thiago Lee and Erik Strand (2021)
“Clipping” extracts features within the bounds of a polygon layer, maintaining the attributes of the input (clipped) layer. In effect, the Clip tool acts as a cookie cutter.
Related: This tutorial demonstrates using the Clip tool. A related tool, designed for raster extraction is the Extract by Mask tool. For more, see Extracting Rasters with a Vector Mask Layer.
the Clip Tool
Accessing the tool
In ArcToolbox, find the Clip tool under Analysis Tools > Extract > Clip. Alternatively, you can locate the tool by using the Geoprocessing pane's search function.
Running the Clip tool
Here is a brief description of the Clip tool's inputs:
Input Features or Dataset: Specify the dataset containing the input features from which to cut pieces. The attributes of these features will be preserved in the output.
Clip Features: Specify the dataset containing the clip features, which will be used to cut the input features.
Output Features or Dataset: Specify a filename and output location.
performing a clip
Note that the outputs of the Clip tool include the unchanged attributes of the clipped features.