Selection analysis roadmap

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When working with a geographic information system (GIS), it is often necessary to select data that matches a particular set of information or attributes. This data can then be used in geoprocessing tools and analyses.

In ArcGIS, the functionality for performing selection analysis is available through the geoprocessing tools.

The Select Layer By Attribute tool selects features based on attribute values, while the Select Layer By Location tool selects features based on their relationship to other features in the same, or in another, feature class.

When the layer (as opposed to the path to the feature class or table) is used as input, only the selected features will be used for analysis. For example, Select Layer By Attribute is run on a layer named World Countries that has a selection with COUNTRY_NAME = Canada. The layer is then used as input to the Summary Statistics tool to add the values in the Population field. Only one feature will be used (Canada), and the result will be a value of 33 million. However, if the path to the feature class (for example, c:\mydata.gdb\world_countries) is used instead of the layer name, all 195 features will be used and the result will be 6.7 billion.

The Copy Features tool can be used to make a permanent copy of the selection to a new feature class or table.

Multiple spatial and attribute selections can be combined using the Add to and Remove from options on the Select Layer By Attribute and Select Layer By Location tools.

Layers and table views and selections can be used in .NET applications by using the Make Feature Layer and Make Table View tools to create the layer or view, perform selections on the layers, and use the layers as input to other tools.

For more information on how to use geoprocessing tools in a developer scenario, see How to run a geoprocessing tool.

There are no ArcObjects to assist you in this analysis. You need to use geoprocessing tools, as discussed in the previous section, to perform these tasks.