Adding graphics (pdfs) to a map defined by point location?

Question

Hi,

I have a point shapefile with xy coordinates and have a lot of plots in pdf format (other format should be possible too, initially I have postscript files and conversion should be no problem). For data visualisation and analysis I would like to plot a map with the different plots connected to the location of the coordinates.

Does anyone have an idea how I could approach this in ArcGIS instead of doing it manually (I have about 200 plots to be added to coordinates and it would take me a long time to do this manually)?

Any help is kindly appreciated. Thank you!

fd · Answer

The problem is that you can only join database/attribute features, but not files (e.g. pdfs) (correct me if I'm wrong!). My pdfs have a unique ID as filename which is the same in the attribute table of the point shapefile, I could link to the pdf in the attributes of the point shapefile by hyperlink, but to my understanding this will not help me to visualize the data, as a hyperlink is only a link but doesn't display graphics.

DanPatterson_Retired · Answer

did you try to join the two files together based upon the common field?

fd · Answer

ok thanks for the information. this is indeed what I have, the filenames contain a ID which is the same in the point shapefile's attribute table. I'll try to find a solution or at least a workaround which takes me less time than adding everything manually with hyperlink. Thanks again.