idea Improve spatial join tool in ArcGIS Pro Ideas

Improve spatial join tool

ChristopherThompson — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 14:13:17 GMT

Some enhancements that would make the Spatial Join tool more useful:

Allow user to name the "join_count" field automatically generated by the tool. Currently if i want to perform several joins to the same target each creates a 'join_count' field, which ultimately has to get changed so its clear what data are being counted.
Allow serial join operations, that is, allow multiple 'join feature' feature classes per target feature class. Sometimes I want to summarize/aggregate several layers to a single layer (such as county or census block), currently I have to do this one at a time or build a model to handle this.
Make data summaries easier to specify. If i want to summarize a numeric attribute in a join feature I have to manually add a new field to the field map, specifiy the merge rule, then specify the input field. If I want Min, Max, and Average for just one field this means 9 operations I have to complete. We should be able pick all the desired summary statistics for a field just as we do with the Summarize tool when summarizing a table.

Re: Improve spatial join tool - Status changed to: Under Consideration

MargaretCrawford — Fri, 18 Nov 2022 20:57:56 GMT

Re: Improve spatial join tool - Status changed to: In Product Plan

MargaretCrawford — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 19:42:39 GMT

This idea is in the product plan for the ArcGIS Pro 3.6 release. In the Spatial Join tool, you will be able to add multiple Join Features and specify a custom the Join Count Field Name for each feature.

Also, as of Pro 3.2, you can use Add Fields on the Field Map to quickly summarize attributes in a join feature

Re: Improve spatial join tool - Status changed to: Implemented

MargaretCrawford — Tue, 25 Nov 2025 18:27:02 GMT

Hello, this idea is implemented as of ArcGIS Pro 3.6. You can now specify multiple Join Features and the join_count field name

https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/tool-reference/analysis/analysis-toolbox-history-pro.htm#:~:text=from%20ArcMap%2010.3-,Spatial%20Join,-Version