Spatial Join of two polygon layers where presence of one layer modifies the other

MadisonGiuntoli

Hello, I'm relatively new to GIS and am hoping for some guidance!

I know what I'd like to accomplish in plain language but am not sure how to make it happen in GIS. I have two polygon layers, layer one and layer two. Wherever they overlap, I'd like to modify a column in layer one and change entries from N to Y. I also would like to make sure that all other columns in layer one are un-touched. Is spatial join the right feature for this? Both layers are made from multiple individual polygons. 

That is the simplest way I can phrase it, please let me know if clarification or further info is needed. 

VaibhavSalvi

Since joins are session specific it wont make any sense to create them. You will have to create a spatial join every time you open a new project. 

You can try using attribute rules to overlap and update the column fields from N to Y. I found a community article (slightly related to your issue) that might be helpful. 

https://community.esri.com/t5/attribute-rules-videos/using-attribute-rules-with-joined-tables-to-pass/td-p/1008944