topic Re: Merging selected features of polygons in the same layer into one feature in Data Management Questions

Merging selected features of polygons in the same layer into one feature

KristiRandhawa — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 16:24:43 GMT

Hi,

I am trying to merge polygons with the same feature (postal code) into a single polygon, so that in the end all polygons will have a unique postal code. However there are 50,000 unique postal codes so I am unable to do this manually by going into the attribute table and selecting all polygons with the same postal code and then merging them. There must be someway to go about this without doing it manually.

Also, polygons with the same postal code are not necessarily adjacent to each other.

Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks

Re: Merging selected features of polygons in the same layer into one feature

T__WayneWhitley — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 17:36:10 GMT

This may be a late reply - not sure if you've found your solution, but since there have been no replies, I'll go ahead:

Sounds like you need the Dissolve tool, and this will create the multi-part features you seek (for those non-adjacent features you spoke of). Here's the help doc:

Dissolve (Data Management)
Resource Center » Professional Library » Geoprocessing » Geoprocessing tool reference » Data Management toolbox » Generalization toolset
http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//00170000005n000000

Re: Merging selected features of polygons in the same layer into one feature

KristiRandhawa — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 18:16:27 GMT

Thanks Wayne,

Found my answer and used the dissolve tool, worked perfectly :]