Associating data of different data types (E.g. Lines and points)

[AlfredBaldenweck]

I'm looking for a clean way to associate different types of geometry with each other. For example, if I were collecting a point for a mailbox, a line for a fence, and an area for the footprint of the house for every person in the neighborhood, and I wanted to select all of the Smiths' (who own multiple, discontiguous properties) stuff all at once, is there an easy way to do it? I tried relating the geometry tables to a list of property owners (in this example), but that still only lets me go to one geometry at a time (e.g. only selecting the mailboxes, then having to go back to the table to select the fencelines, too, etc.). The only other thing I can think of is doing a Select by Location or by attributes, but that's not as efficient of a solution as I'd like. Thanks!

[JohannesLindner · Accepted solution]

Build relationship classes or relates between the owner table and the property feature classes.

In the owner table, check this option:

Now when you select an owner, all their properties will be selected.

[AlfredBaldenweck]

When I tried that it gave me the option of selecting only the point and only the lines, etc. 

[JohannesLindner]

That's weird...

I have a similar situation:

Gewässer: table with data of rivers and ditches
Gewässersegmente: feature class containing the river axes
Gewässerflächen: feature class containing polygons of the water area
Bauwerke: feature class containing buildings along the river

When I enable that option in the table (Gewässer) and select a river there, ArcGIS automatically selects everything linked to that river.

Are you sure you checked the option "Select related records"? It sounds like you tried the "Related Data" menu above it, which indeed lets you only choose one related feature class.

[AlfredBaldenweck]

I am sure you are right. Thank you!