topic Re: Identify points within ring buffers in Geoprocessing Questions

Identify points within ring buffers

TinaGrant — Mon, 10 Oct 2016 23:42:16 GMT

I have a polygon feature class and a point feature class. I'd like to assign each point to a buffer category, i.e. points within a 300 ft buffer of a polygon would be assigned to "Category 1", points within a 300-1000 ft buffer would be assigned to "Category 2," etc. Seems like a simple task but beyond creating buffers with the "Multiple ring buffer" tool I'm stumped. Suggestions? I'm running ArcGIS Desktop 10.4.1.

Re: Identify points within ring buffers

DanPatterson_Retired — Tue, 11 Oct 2016 00:22:12 GMT

spatial join is one method Spatial Join—Help | ArcGIS for Desktop

join the polygon layer to the points.

Re: Identify points within ring buffers

TinaGrant — Tue, 11 Oct 2016 00:51:46 GMT

Join and then buffer? I need to categorize the points based on their distance from the polygons.

Re: Identify points within ring buffers

DanPatterson_Retired — Tue, 11 Oct 2016 01:38:26 GMT

No... you need to buffer first since you want to ensure that the buffers are in place before you join them to the points. Because you want to know which buffer is associated with the points.

You can also do an 'Intersect' in the overlay tools Intersect—Help | ArcGIS for Desktop

That might be easier for you since the points will intersect the buffer rings without question

Re: Identify points within ring buffers

TinaGrant — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 02:35:21 GMT

This is the process that worked: First I created the buffers with the Multiple Ring Buffer tool; I had many overlapping buffers so I chose to dissolve "ALL." Then I used Identity (not Intersect) since I needed to include all points, not just those within the buffers.