ArcGIS

ArcGIS Online Joining

This brief tutorial will walk you through the process of joining a table of values (in this case, a CSV) to a an attribute table in ArcGIS Online. In this example, we will attach, or 'join', tree information based on a unique identifier for each tree record.

Setup Instructions

In preparation for this tutorial, you will need an organizational account. As a Brock University affiliate, you already have such an account. The first part of the tutorial will outline steps for accessing the software at https://www.arcgis.com using your Brock credentials. Video instructions.

1. Download the following:
   TreeSampleChippawaCOORDINATES_CSV.csv
   TreeSampleChippawaATTRIBUTES_CSV.csv

The Scenario
We will be mapping tree sample data for the neighbourhood of Bridgewater near Niagara Falls and Chippawa. Tree data is often collected with GPS units that capture Geographic Coordinates. Unlike the previous exercise that required street addresses, this activity will plot the X,Y data then join detailed attribute values from a CSV (comma separated values file). Sometimes it is easier to collaborate on a field project by having one person record the attributes such as diameter at breast height, tree species and health, while another person captures the GPS coordinates. Although this example uses point data, the same general steps would apply to boundary files such as census tracts or municipal boundaries and associated tabular data.

Displaying in ArcGIS Online

1. Go to https://arcgis.com and sign in to your ArcGIS Organization using your Brock University credentials.

   

2. Click the Map tab at the top of the screen.
3. Click Add > Add layer from file.
4. Click YOUR DEVICE and browse to the file .

5. When prompted "How would you like to add this file?", select Create a hosted feature layer and add it to the map. Click Next.

6. Accept the defaults for the Fields. Click Next.
7. Under Location settings, select Latitude and Longitude from the dropdown options.
8. Match the fields accordingly.
9. Click Next.
10. Enter a Title, Folder location in ArcGIS Online, Tags and Summary.
11. Click Create and add to map.

1. To add the tabular attribute data, click Add > Add layer from file.

2. Click YOUR DEVICE and browse to the file 

3. Click Next.
4. Accept all the fields to add and click Next.
5. From the Location settings, choose 
6. Click Next.
7. Enter a Title, Folder, Tags and summary.
8. Click Create and add to map.
9. In ArcGIS Online, the tables can be found by clicking the table icon  from the left menu options.
10. Before continuing, click the layers icon .

Joining in ArcGIS Online

1. With the point feature layer active (it will have a blue bar down the side), click the analysis tools from the righthand menu .
2. Click the hammer icon .
3. From the list of geoprocessing tools, under Summarize Data, select Join Features.
4. Select the point feature layer as the Target Layer (i.e. TreesChippawaCOORDINATES).
5. Select the table as the Join Layer (i.e. TreeChippawaATTRIBUTES).
6. Scroll down to Join Settings.

7. Select OBJECTID for both the Target layer and the Join layer.

   

8. Scroll down to the Result Layer section and enter a unique output name (i.e. TreeDataChippawa).

NOTE: this tool consumes a small number of credits. Click Estimate Credits to see the cost.

9. Click Run.
10. To see the status of the tool, click the History button .
11. The resulting feature layer will automatically be added to the map. Click a dot on the map to see the attribute listing in a pop-up.

NOTE: you may need to turn off visibility of the original point layer.

More information about Joins & Relates can be found in the ArcGIS Help files.