Hi everyone,
I'm relatively new to ArcGIS, so please forgive my lack of knowledge. I have ~100 feature classes that I am going to combine into a single feature class, but before I do I want to add a field to each of their attribute tables, then have that field auto-populate from a value at the end of the name of the feature class. Is it possible to use a tool to do this all at once? All I know to do right now is manually add a field to each feature class one at a time, and then use the Field Calculator to populate the values.
Thanks for any help!
There's two common ways to do this - using either Python or Modelbuilder. I'm not great at Python, so I will a discussion of how to do it with that to others. As for Modelbuilder, here's what you could do:
1. Place copies of all the feature classes in one folder, preferably with a short folder chain to the root.
2. Design a Model using Modelbuilder with the following components:
- Iterate ______ (Modelbuilder-only tool) - this will loop through all the feature classes to run the following processes. Choose the appropriate Iterator to match your data.
- Add Field geoprocessing tool
- Calculate Field geoprocessing tool
Note that the Calculate field would use the Value or Name output from the Iterate to populate the file name via the use of a
Inline Variable Substitution.
What is ModelBuilder?—Help | ArcGIS for Desktop
ArcGIS Help (10.2, 10.2.1, and 10.2.2) - Iterator Examples
ArcGIS Help (10.2, 10.2.1, and 10.2.2) - Inline Variable Substitution
After the model is run and all the feature classes now have the new field with the calculated value, you can run a Union geoprocessing tool to combine them.
Chris Donohue, GISP
Thanks so much Chris! I'll give this a try, I really appreciate the help.