Calculating the strikes of lineaments through GIS (ArcMap 10.4)

Hi everyone! I'll be outlining a way to automatically calculate the end-to-end strike/trend values of lineaments or faults which you have plotted in GIS software. This method uses ArcGIS, but can be adjusted and followed for QGIS. Let's get to it.

Note: When dealing with digital structural data, azimuthal bearing is the convention of choice. If you are used to quadrantal bearing, slowly re-familiarize yourself with the azimuth concept, as it is much simpler to encode.

Software used: ArcMap 10.4

0. Make sure your files use a UTM projection.

1. Open the attribute table of your lineament shapefile.

2. Add fields for the starting x and y coordinates, ending x and y coordinates. I used a Double filetype. Calculate these by right-clicking the field heading and select Calculate Geometry...