Beginner question: adjacent cities

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08-25-2021 01:18 PM
QwertZuiopü
New Contributor

Hello all,

I don't know if such beginner's questions are wanted here (if not, please delete!), but I have a (hopefully simple) question: In the context of a seminar paper I work as an absolute beginner with GIS. I would like to represent for a whole country all large cities as well as the in each case adjacent cities. What is the easiest way to do this?
I have a dataset with all cities of the country including information about the number of inhabitants and other indicators and trends I want to look at. So the idea is to automatically identify cities adjacent to certain large cities.

(I would like to investigate if there is a correlation between certain trends in cities and the surrounding cities. For example, I'd like to examine whether population trends in cities adjacent to fast-growing large cities are similar or opposite to trends in the large city. I would like to conduct similar analyses with other socio-economic/demographic indicators).

Thanks and have a nice evening (and please excuse my bad English)!

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4 Replies
JoeBorgione
MVP Emeritus

To start with, beginners questions are always welcome, and your English needs no apologies!

Adjacent is a relative term in the context of GIS.  It could mean that two cities share a border.  Or it could mean that two cities are within a certain distance and are considered adjacent.

Either way, take a look at Select By Location  this tool allows you to specify how you want to define adjacent.

That should just about do it....
DavidPike
MVP Frequent Contributor
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by Anonymous User
Not applicable

Joe is right, adjacent is a relative term in the context of GIS.  To give you another tool that can be useful for projects like the one you are working one; you can use the Buffer tool to define a distance around the city you are looking at.  For example you could set a buffer of 30 miles around your cities, this can be done with point or polygon data.  You can then use the buffer as a selection method using the select by location tool that Joe mentioned, to select cities that are within the buffer you created.

MicZatorsky_AEC
Occasional Contributor III

Thiessen polygons can help visualize and identify "neighbors"  (it assumes no barriers though)

MicZatorsky_AEC_0-1630192802655.png

 

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