topic Re: Shapefile attribute table in Data Management Questions

Shapefile attribute table

paulmcburney — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 18:25:11 GMT

Hey Everyone,

I just imported a shapefile from arcgis online. The layer appears on the map but there is no attribute table associated with it, which I need for my analysis. Is this a restriction from the source of the shapefile or is there something I can do to access the table?

Thank you for your time!

Re: Shapefile attribute table

DanPatterson_Retired — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 18:40:00 GMT

there has to be an attribute table, otherwise the shapefile wouldn't work. It may be that you aren't allowed to open the table, but if the file is saved locally, then you can open it in database programs and older versions of excel

Re: Shapefile attribute table

paulmcburney — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 18:42:28 GMT

Dan,

When a right click the layer there is no option to open the attribute table. I assume that means I'm simply not allowed to open the table?

Re: Shapefile attribute table

DanPatterson_Retired — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 18:55:06 GMT

bingo... a limitation of the software, but shapefiles can be opened up in other Arc* software and/or open source gis packages or the dbase portion as I previously mentions

Re: Shapefile attribute table

ChadKopplin — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 19:07:09 GMT

If you pull the shapefile into your map can you use the identify tool to see your attribution? If so, then you should still be able to use it for your analysis, but you would have to know your analysis parameters for that data before your use the data. Also, is there any metadata associated with the shapefile? This should have the attributes listed if it is complete.

Re: Shapefile attribute table

XanderBakker — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 19:09:29 GMT

Can you include a screenshot of the Source tab of the properties of the layer. I wonder if it really is a shapefile...

Re: Shapefile attribute table

JayantaPoddar — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 20:30:39 GMT

Hi Paul,

I think you are using a tiled map service (just an image of the map) instead of a shapefile. Even a feature layer service would have an attribute table attached with it.

Re: Shapefile attribute table

DanPatterson_Retired — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 20:32:23 GMT

I wonder where the word shapefile came from then? strange

Re: Shapefile attribute table

XanderBakker — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 13:14:56 GMT

Should I branch this as a new question ... ?

Couldn't find it in: https://www.esri.com/library/whitepapers/pdfs/shapefile.pdf

nor in this page: https://doc.arcgis.com/en/arcgis-online/reference/shapefiles.htm

and neither here: Shapefile - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Should we ask Jack or Scott?

Re: Shapefile attribute table

DanPatterson_Retired — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 13:25:03 GMT

Grief I meant in the question.... will have to be more specific

Re: Shapefile attribute table

JimmyKroon — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 13:42:15 GMT

What is the source listed in the Source tab of the layer properties? Is it a local or online path?

If it's online, then somewhere in the path will (probably) be either 'MapServer' or 'FeatureServer'. If you see MapServer then you'll only be getting images of the data, not the actual data.

This is an example of a source URL for a map service.

https://firstmap.delaware.gov/arcgis/rest/services/PlanningCadastre/DE_AgLandsPreservation/MapServer

This is the same data source as a feature service.

https://firstmap.delaware.gov/arcgis/rest/services/PlanningCadastre/DE_AgLandsPreservation/FeatureServer