6 replies to this topic

[benbakelaar]

Hey all, I don't get it, maybe it's because I have the ESRI Press 180-day evaluation license, but my ArcMap 9.0 won't let me "union" more than 2 files at a time. And I've already installed XTools and gone past my 30 day trial, and they charge $150 per license!

Isn't there a better way to merge more than two files at a time? I have 95 counties in Virginia that I am trying to get into one file.. and believe me, I've already tried to find a single shapefile containing all counties. Either way though, I would like to know the solution to this merge/union issue.

[Geographic Techniques]

Try using the "Append" tool under Data Managemnt Tools\General. This will allow multiple features to be added to a single existing feature class.

Doug

[merft]

Hey all, I don't get it, maybe it's because I have the ESRI Press 180-day evaluation license, but my ArcMap 9.0 won't let me "union" more than 2 files at a time. And I've already installed XTools and gone past my 30 day trial, and they charge $150 per license!

Isn't there a better way to merge more than two files at a time? I have 95 counties in Virginia that I am trying to get into one file.. and believe me, I've already tried to find a single shapefile containing all counties. Either way though, I would like to know the solution to this merge/union issue.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The version of ArcGIS determines the number of layers you can union at one time. With an ArcView version of ArcGIS you can only union 2 layers. With ArcEditor, I think it is 5 layers, and ArcInfo version is unlimited.

Try Merge as suggested, but XTools or ETGeowizards are far cheaper alternatives to ArcInfo. $150 or $15,000? :-)

-Tom

[Themarko]

In the ESRI data that should have came with your install discs there's a coverage of counties for the whole US, maybe just extracting Virginia would work. I found it in :\ESRI_2005\1_Vector\usa\census\counties.sdc (I know it seems obvious but I also know from LONG experience and many mistakes of my own that the obvious sometimes gets overlooked.)

[benbakelaar]

Thanks Doug, that did the trick!

Tom, point well taken. Do you have a preference for XTools or ETGeo? Or do they have enough different functions to warrant using both?

Themarko, thanks also... Actually I did find the per-state files here http://www.census.go...cob/co2000.html ... it kills me that the right *order* of keywords also matters in Google. Searching for "virginia county shapefile" yields too many state sites without the shapefile I'm looking for, while "county shapefiles" yields exactly what I want!

In the ESRI data that should have came with your install discs there's a coverage of counties for the whole US, maybe just extracting Virginia would work. I found it in :\ESRI_2005\1_Vector\usa\census\counties.sdc (I know it seems obvious but I also know from LONG experience and many mistakes of my own that the obvious sometimes gets overlooked.)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Martin Gamache]

Edit Tools is more powerful and does not load as an extension which can avoid some problems I've seen where sometimes MXDs won't open as a result of the x-tools extension being installed (or not installed).

mg

[merft]

Tom, point well taken. Do you have a preference for XTools or ETGeo? Or do they have enough different functions to warrant using both?

I would probably lean towards ETGeoTools/Wizards. They offer both an interface option to the tools and an integration into ArcToolbox. You can find a demo version at Ianko's GIS. The one item with this extension that annoys me is that all files loaded HAVE to be in the same projection.

-Tom