Dissolving features based on another spatial dataset

[SimonCrutchley]

Hi there,

I have a problem for which I hope there is a simple answer that I've just missed.

I have a very large dataset of features created by an auto-vectorising of scanned raster data. This has produced individual feature records for each dot, line etc with no relevant attribute data. I also have a set of monument polygons that I want to use to divide up the vector data into sensible blocks.

I used the 'Split' command to divide the vector data into multiple layers using the unique UID of the monument polygons creating several thousand layers. I foolishly thought that these would retain the UUID as part of their metadata, and I could use this to redissolve them, but this is not the case. I could try a spatial join to add the UUID to the relevant vector data, but this would mean thousands of individual joins, which is clearly impractical. There doesn't seem any obvious way to solve this, but I can't believe that it's not something that people need to do.

Should I not have split them in the first place, or was there some other way to do it?

Any help gratefully received.

Thanks

Simon

[BobBooth1 · Accepted solution]

It might be simpler to do an Intersect of the monument polygons and the raw lines.

https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/tool-reference/analysis/how-intersect-analysis-works.htm

That should give you lines with attributes of the monument polygons.

[BobBooth1]

Looks like an archaeology case?  I used to do that!

[SimonCrutchley]

It is indeed. I rarely hear from other archaeologists, so it's nice to know they're out there 🙂

[SimonCrutchley]

I'm currently adding the thousands of features, so I'll let you know when it's done and see if the join works. I must admit I've not come across the Intersect tool before.

[SimonCrutchley]

Hi Bob, thanks for that. It took a bit of trial and error as it kept failing, but once I’d worked out that all the features had to have at least one overlap, then it worked and is doing just what I needed. 🙂