There are two basic types of joins in GIS tables and geo-data: spatial and relational (based on table IDs). Spatial join is the key concept in GIS and that is what sets all GIS technologies apart from other relational databases. Here we start with performing relational joint of list of zipcodes with names to the US zipcode shapefile.

Relational Join

To join table to shapefile based on ID (zipcode) the data type in the column you are planning to join should be the same. Let’s check on data type in Zip code shapefile. Right click on shapefile, select properties and look under Fields tab. The format of the data is Text and size is 5 digits.

Software: ArcGIS - ArcEditor 9.2, 9.3, 9.3.1, 10 ArcGIS - ArcInfo 9.2, 9.3, 9.3.1, 10 ArcGIS - ArcView 9.2, 9.3, 9.3.1, 10 ArcGIS for Desktop Advanced 10.1 ArcGIS for Desktop Standard 10.1

This is documented step-by-step and hands-on exercise on how to create XY point shapefile for the centers of USA counties (with linked basic demography and FIPS) in ArcMap 10.1. You don’t need to follow those steps (and if you don’t have ArcGIS for Desktop, you cannot) and may just grab the resulted layer file in various formats at the end of this post. Formats available are MS Excel table, CSV table with XY, zipped SHP file package, and KMZ file.

This layer is not directly shareable on ArcGIS Online, as it has more than 1000 features (3143, to be exact), we may post it there later as partial files…

If you need help with your GIS project, please, do not hesitate to contact Landviser, LLC - post comment, email info@landviser.com, or call 609-412-0555. Current complete catalog of Landviser LLC