topic How do I set up spatial real-time results (Points are within polygons) and save the count as an attribute? in ArcGIS Online Questions

How do I set up spatial real-time results (Points are within polygons) and save the count as an attribute?

Piotrek6116 — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 17:21:31 GMT

Hello ESRI Members,

I've set up a Dashboard + Web Map with two (WFL) layers:

Polygons
Points

I need the polygon layer to dynamically calculate and update the count of points within each polygon automatically whenever the point layer is updated.

The number of points will soon reach thousands, so I'm looking for a real-time processing solution - screen how it's looks today.

What I’ve considered but won't work:

Arcade Expression - only works for pop-ups, not attribute updates.
Summarize Within tool - creates a new layer instead of updating the existing one.
Feature layer (view) - The function adds attributes based on an attribute rather than a spatial function.

Does anyone know a way to achieve it ?

PS: I think about notebook will be a good for that - I don't know

Any insights would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

Re: How do I set up spatial real-time results (Points are within polygons) and save the count as an attribute?

spence_amzn — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 17:43:06 GMT

Well, you are going to never have real time processing, but you can use a web hook to trigger an action like creating a point.

The best you can hope for, even with GeoEvent or Velocity, is near real time.

Re: How do I set up spatial real-time results (Points are within polygons) and save the count as an attribute?

EmilyGeo — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 19:49:45 GMT

Hi @Piotrek6116,

I'm not sure what you mean when you say that Arcade expressions only work in pop-ups. Arcade expressions can be used to update attributes in various places across the platform. Here are some examples of ways you can use arcade expressions to update attributes:

1. Forms - Author forms with calculated expressions to update attributes for the feature(s) you are editing.

2. Calculate field- calculate a field for all (or a subset of) features in a layer in the attribute table using the Calculate field tool.

That being said, updating features automatically when you edit a feature in another layer is not as straightforward. Is there a relationship between the points and the polygons? If the features are related, then you could author expressions in forms that help ensure the polygon attributes are updated anytime a related feature (point) is created or updated.

Otherwise you may want to look for scripts or leverage tools like Notebooks, Data Pipelines or Model Builder that you can schedule or run repeatedly.

Hope that helps - Emily