Storing Geodatabase Point Feature Class Records With No Point Feature

Question

Although I never needed or wanted to do this previously, I now find myself in a situation where it would be nice if I could store records containing project history within the same table as my point feature class.  I reached out to support and at first they said this was no problem at all, but as the conversation went on it was left as though it might work.  So, I'll ask anyone who cares to read this one for their thoughts on this topic.

Without severely damaging the integrity of the geodatabase, can you store non-spatial records within a point feature class attribute table or, can you mix spatial and non-spatial records in a single point feature class, within a personal geodatabase?

Christian_Wells · Accepted Answer

It is possible to store both spatial and non-spatial data together. To insert empty geometries, just double-click the empty row at the bottom of the attribute table, which is supported in ArcMap and ArcGIS Pro. Please keep in mind, however, that personal geodatabases are not supported in ArcGIS Pro.

Although, its possible to store both together, there are some issues that you may experience, such as errors in analysis stating the operation was performed on an empty geometry or in Python, the null geometry will be returned as a Nonetype.

Simply put, all a non-spatial record represents to the geodatabase is a NULL record (except for in SDE). As long as you are aware that those records are there and the potential issues or errors you may encounter, it should not damage the geodatabase on the existence of null geometry records alone.