ArcGIS Online Analysis Tool 'Find Similar Locations'

GavinMayeda · ‎04-13-2016

I am trying to work with the 'Find Similar Locations' analysis tool in ArcGIS Online, and I have a question about 'Base similarity on' section:

The options that appear are only a small fraction of the fields within my database, and after a bit of comparing I have found that the fields all have a data type of 'Double'. Is there a reason for this? Is there a work-around or a way to have all fields show? The returned options severely limit the comparison, and make the tool pretty much useless for me.

If all of the fields within my database were present this would be an awesome tool!

As always, thank you for any suggestions or insight in advance! (I'm pretty sure that this time it's not user error, I could be wrong though...)

Dell OptiPlex 9010

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3770 CPU @ 3.40 GHz

8.0 GB RAM

Windows 7 Professional 64-bit OS

AMD Radeon HD 7570

Dual Dell U2414H Monitors

KellyGerrow · ‎04-14-2016

Hi Gavin,

Currently this tool requires numeric values for the Base similarity on parameter. Can you share the type of analysis you are looking to perform with your data?

-Kelly

GavinMayeda · ‎04-15-2016

Thanks for the response Kelly!

I think I can change the fields that I need to a numerical value, but the data does not initially come that way from our tax system.

Some fields were created 15 years ago as text fields because of leading zeroes such as our Taxability Codes, Land Use Codes, etc. that are two to four digit strings. I honestly don't know what will happen if I change the data type to double, although I will give it a shot probably next week.

I have other fields that appraisal staff would like to use as criteria for analysis such as our Community field which is a 3 character text string.

A good example of an analysis would be selecting an individual parcel, and then doing an analysis of nearby parcels (current map extent) based on a Land Use Code. Our Commercial division was hoping to do an analysis using this exact criteria.

Is there a chance that the 'Base similarity on' could be set to utilize any data type?

GavinMayeda · ‎05-18-2016

I have been struggling with my data since the last post. Due to the numbering/code structure I can't make the field a numerical string because of the leading zeroes. The rest of the fields that I would like to base the filters on are text fields as well and are populated with text characters such as 'GG' which stands for 'Good Golf' view.

Like I said in my original post, if the "Base similarity on' could be based on any field type this would be an awesome tool.

KellyGerrow · ‎05-23-2016

Thanks for your feedback Gavin!

Can you submit this request and your use case to the ideas site, http://ideas.arcgis.com? The ideas site is moving to Geonet this week, so feel free to wait until it moves or submit it prior to the move.

Thanks,

Kelly

GavinMayeda · ‎07-07-2016

A quick follow up to the issue -

I made it the the ArcGIS Online islands at the conference, and it was suggested that I use the 'Find Existing Locations' tool in the Analytics widget. My problem right now, is that it looks like my service has to have 'Feature Access' turned on in order for the query to work. Is this true? Is there a work-around to this?

I do have one issue with the difference between the 'Find Existing Locations' tool and the 'Find Similar Locations' tool. One of the reasons that the 'Find Similar Locations' tool was so appealing, is that it allows you to select a feature that you can base your comparison on. This does not exist in the 'Find Existing Locations' tool.