Eliminate

Eliminates unwanted polygons (slivers) by merging them into the neighboring polygons.

A polygon feature layer
Selection method
- Attribute query - introduces a query builder. The user can select the polygons to be eliminated using any query expression
- Thickness ratio is expressed as a ratio of the polygon area versus the area of its minimal bounding square. The ratio will have value of 1 for a square. The smaller the value is, the thinner the polygon is. It is a good way of identifying thin polygons (possible slivers).
- Circularity ratio - for a circle the circularity will be 1. The thinner the polygon is the smaller the circularity will be. This is another way of identifying slivers
Elimination method
- Join (Largest area) - will join selected polygons with neighboring polygons that have the largest area
- Join (Longest boundary) - will join selected polygons with neighboring polygons with the longest common border .
- Join to the neighbor with the same value in the selected field as the sliver polygon.

Important! If the input layer has overlapping polygons, there might be some missing polygons in the output. It is strongly recommended to use the Clean Polygons function before executing Eliminate.
Some of the very tiny slivers can be eliminated with the Clean Polygon Wizard using appropriate value for Fuzzy tolerance, however eliminating larger slivers using this method is not recommended since some unwanted approximation of the polygon shapes might occur.
When using programatically the only selection method is Attribute Query. You can use the Polygon Characteristics function to get values for Circularity and Thickness for each polygon and then execute the Eliminate Function using Attribute Query.

Before Eliminate

Eliminated with Largest Area option

Eliminated with Longest boundary option

Expression	Explanation
Function Name	Eliminate
<input dataset>	A String representing the input layer. Must be of Polygon type.
<output dataset>	A String - the full name of the output layer.
<Eliminate Method>	Required. A String - valid values: "Largest" - The polygons will be eliminated by joining them to the neighboring polygons that have the largest area "Longest" - The polygons will be eliminated by joining them to the neighboring polygons with the longest common border . "Join Field" - The polygons will be eliminated by joining them to the neighboring polygons with the same value in the selected field as the sliver polygons.
<SQL Expression>	A String representing the selection expression. Example: Shape_Area < 200 AND Name = 'a'
{Join Field}	A String representing a field name to be used in the elimination process. Used only if the elimination method is "Join Field"

ETGWPath used in the table below is the full path to ETGWRun.exe (E.G. "C:\Program Files\ETSpatial Techniques\ETGeo Wizards\ETGWRun.exe")

Language	Syntax
Python	subprocess.call([ETGWPath, "Eliminate", "input dataset", "output dataset", "Eliminate Method", "SQL Expression", "Join Field"])
.NET using ETGWRun.exe	StartInfo.FileName = ETGWPath StartInfo.Arguments = "Eliminate" "input dataset" "output dataset" "Eliminate Method" "SQL Expression" "Join Field"
.NET using ETGWOutX.dll	Eliminate(input dataset, output dataset, Eliminate Method, SQL Expression", Join Field)
ArcPy	arcpy.Eliminate(input dataset, output dataset, "Eliminate Method" , "SQL Expression", "Join Field")

Notes:

<> - required parameter
{} - optional parameter
See examples for Python , .NET or ArcPy
The argument separator for StartInfo.Arguments is space. If a string might contain a space, you need to double quote it.