I'm looking for a batch merge function to merge attributes within one feature class

Question

I need assistance; I’m stuck on a process to combine data within a single feature class (merge)

I need to merge - intersect geo-processing results within a single feature class

Example screen shot:

I used the geoprocessing: intersect tool to combine polygons (county and zip code) the intersect result created several polygons; now I need to merge by zip code choosing the largest polygon {not sure how to do that; except to manually select by shape_area}

* I want keep all of the attribute fields > I'm looking for a batch merge function*

After the merge is complete and there are no duplicate zip code numbers I need to dissolve by Senate districts.

Final product should be a Senate District feature class with number of constituents per district

Data to create the product is excel file, zip code poly, county poly and Senate district poly

Thank you for your expertise,

Jerry

DarrenWiens2 · Answer

As far as I know, there is no single tool that will collapse records into the largest polygon (keeping only and all the attributes of the largest polygon), but you can do something along these lines:

1.) Move your data to a personal GDB feature class (supports MAX in SQL)

2.) Select the MAX area record for each group (e.g. senate district). Change myFeatureClass to the name of your feature class: [Shape_Area_1] IN (SELECT MAX( [Shape_Area_1]) FROM myFeatureClass GROUP BY [ADMIN3])

3.) Export those selected records

4.) Dissolve the shapes of each group together (e.g. by ADMIN3)

5.) Join the exported max records to the dissolved shapes based on ADMIN3

JerryHicklen · Answer

Wes -

not sure what's meant by different areas

9 Senate Districts

257 zip codes

7 Counties

union tool gave me a output; now I need to clean up the extra zip codes that were created.

in the past I did it manually (adv sort by zip code & shape_area, then I would select duplicates and use merge tool under editor tool bar & poly with the largest area)

WesMiller · Answer

Are the areas different? Could you share a screen shot sounds like Dissolve—Help | ArcGIS for Desktop  will do all the work if the areas aren't different.