Feature Selection

[ChaseBergklint]

I have a map of a state with cities and land use. I have to use selecting features to find out how many cities are within half of a mile of a reservoir. Can some one explain to me how to do that? By the way, the answer is 287 but the number that I got 12242. Can someone help me?

[JakeSkinner]

Hi Chase,

You will want to run the Buffer tool on the reservoir.  Then, perform a Select by Location for the Cities that intersect the buffered reservoir.

[DavidBarnes · Accepted solution]

You should be able to do this, without having to create a buffer, by first selecting just the reservoir, then using Select By Location. Make sure you have the parameters set correctly. For example, the Selection method should be "select features from", Target layer should be the layer that has your cities, Source layer should be your reservoir layer and should have Use selected features checked (might be grayed out, but should be checked on anyway) and show 1 feature selected, Spatial selection method should be "are within a distance of the source layer feature", search distance should be set to your desired distance/units.

I believe that should work. I don't know if projection on the fly could impact it.