[GIS] Select by Attribute within a specific area (using Select by Location?)

arcgis-desktoparcmapselect-by-attributeselect-by-location

I have a map with four layers. Two of these layers cover an entire state, and the other two focus on the area I'm actually interested in within the state.

I'm trying to Select by Attribute with one of the larger focused layers.

Is there a way I can Select by Attribute but only within the bounds of the smaller layers? I think there is a way, possibly using Select by Location, but I can't seem to figure out what it is.

Hoping there's a way to do this within the GUI of ArcMap rather than any Python scripting, though I'm pretty sure using a Python script would make this so much easier.

Best Answer

Yes, if you just want to do it with selections you need to run multiple selections and change the method/initial set.

First Select by Location using within your smallest boundary. Or if you've got two that overlap somewhat, you select everything within one then run another selection using the method 'select from currently selected features in', as discussed at Finding given objects under both a polygon and a buffer. The help files for Select by Location give an overview (with image) of various methods.

Once you've narrowed down your selection set based on locations, you can switch to Select by Attribute and use the same process - change the method to selecting only from the currently selected set with the attribute criteria you desire. The help files for Select by Attribute show similar examples of available methods.

Both tools allow you to:

  • create a whole new selection
  • add to a selection
  • remove from a selection
  • select from the current selection

So long as you don't deselect anything along the way, you can build very complicated selection sets depending on how many steps you take; similar to complex SQL queries but running each part individually.

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