Assigning census tract to lat/long coordinates?

Question

I have CSV files that are massive (daily records for each census tract for all states). I need a way to quickly assign census tract to each lat/long coordinate. Thank you!

JakeSkinner · Answer

For a CSV this large, I would recommend using GeoAnalytics Server.  This essentially will dedicate a server to perform the analysis.  You could register the CSV directory as a big data file share.  Then execute the Join Features tool on the datasets.

AngieWerner · Answer

Thanks Jake Skinner‌! I did start doing that, but I ended up getting stuck on the spatial join. The CSV file has ~20 million records, so I don't know if there's a more efficient way of doing it. I left it running the join for a long time and the progress bar only moved a teeny bit.

JakeSkinner · Answer

Hi Angie,

You can convert the CSV table to a point feature class using the XY Table To Point tool.  Then execute a Spatial Join with the Census Tract feature class.