Create polygons from points file with an equal number of points per polygon

Question

Hi.

I have a set of points that represent houses.  I have a polygon that represents a neighborhood boundary.

I would like to create sub-neighborhoods that each contain an equal number of houses.  In other words, I would like polygons that each enclose an equal number of points.  I would like these polygons to loosely follow the shape of a grid -- not be radial, multi-part, or swirled together (for example).

I am running ArcEditor.  I have a Spatial Analyst extension.

I do not have road information, otherwise I would be tempted to try to hack around with service areas in Network Analyst.

Any ideas?

Thank you!

KimOllivier · Answer

There is a perfect command for that hidden in the Cartographic Toolbox.

Cartography Tools>Generalization>Create Cartographic Partitions

The only catch is that it requires at least 50,000 points to run. But you could write a similar script yourself.

It works by creating a bounding box and then quartering it and counting the number in each quarter.

Then cycle through each new quadrant and quarter it again until it meets the maximum count.

the main tool does not dissolve out squares with too few, but you could do that.

katerinasianna · Answer

Hallo Allison,

It's my first project with ArcGIS and i really need any kind of help. I am having the same problem with you! I have a shape file with houses and another one with roads. I want to create a python script that it can create enclosed areas with a specific number of houses

Can you propose me some solution? What did you do with your problem?

Thanks in advance.