Converting single-part to multi-part polygons based upon migration data

[TrevorShanklin]

Hello everyone,

I'm in a bit of a pickle. I'm trying to create a map detailing all possible county-to-county migrations using 5-Year ACS data; however, in order for me to do so I have to tie the attributable migration info shared between two counties inclusive of inflow, outflow and gross migration to each possible combination of county-to-county moves throughout the US. That being said, I'll  have to tie the attributable moving data to the US Census Tiger polygons for the 2012 year for the info to be tied to the shapes so that when selected in the final version of the map will have the start county, end county and the move data between the two counties.

I've been thinking through the possible methods for achieving this and I've come to the following conclusions; however, I could be way off:

1) I'll have to create this in ModelBuilder to automate the process.

2) I believe that the correct manner for doing so would be to convert single-part polygons to multi-part based upon the inflow/outflow/gross migration data as well as attaching this information to each combination of two parcels.

3) I'm sure that I'll run into the challenge given the nightmarish amount of possible combinations of moves throughout the time period.

If someone could help me in (1) determining the best way to go about this and (2) helping to come up with the model then I'd be greatly appreciative.

[JoshuaBixby]

Bad hyperlink, missing colon after http.

[JoshuaBixby]

It would be helpful if you would elaborate a bit more on what the final product will look like and how users will interact with it.  I have a sense of what you are after, but with this much data, understanding the final product can make a big difference on how it should be structured and processed.

[TrevorShanklin]

Hey Joshua,

Sorry about that. Here is the correct hyperlink for the ACS data.

Also, what I'd like to achieve as a final product would be something similar to an airline flight connections map whereby upon clicking on either a county, MSA or state all movements from that region would be tracked. I'm not sure the extent of what I will show (i.e. inflow, outflow, net, gross or all of these migration types), but I'd like to have it set up to have the option.

Thanks for your help.

[JoshuaBixby]

OK, I think I got a better picture of what you are after now.  Are you planning on using ArcGIS API for JavaScript and consuming GIS services or build something in ArcGIS Online?  I ask because the example you provide is javascript driven and tends to lend itself to Web-based APIs.  Unfortunately, my background isn't in those Web-based APIs, so I don't think my advice would be worth much.

[TrevorShanklin]

I think that you may be misunderstanding, and that's why I didn't divulge too much of the additional portions of my efforts since it falls outside of GIS. Eventually I'll run this through java script, but that's not really the focus of the question that I'm asking since I want to do all of the geoprocessing upfront in GIS Desktop first. Once that's completed then I'll move forward

The only question that I have here is how to automate the combining of the combinations of two of the TIGER polygons with the migration data found in the ACS file. I want to do this in model builder.

Do you know how to go about this?