Types of feature analysis

You can perform many different types of feature analyses with the spatial analysis service.

The operations are categorized into the following:

1. Find data
2. Combine data
3. Summarize data
4. Analyze patterns
5. Calcuate geometries

Click on the links below to learn how to execute each operation programmatically with ArcGIS APIs and the ArcGIS REST API.

Find data

Find data operations allow you to find feature data with a SQL or spatial query or to export feature data to create new feature data.

Operation	Description	Input data	Output data	Example
Find existing locations	Selects features that satisfy one or more SQL and/or spatial expressions and returns new feature data.	Point, polyline, or polygon feature data	Point, polyline, or polygon feature data
Derive new locations	Selects and can modify features to satisfy one or more SQL and/or spatial expressions and returns new feature data.	Point, polyline, or polygon feature data	Point, polyline, or polygon feature data
Extract features	Selects and exports features that satisfy a SQL and/or spatial expression and creates new feature data stored as a file in a new item. Feature data can be converted to CSV, KML, file geodatabase, or shapefile format.	Point, polyline, or polygon feature data	Point, line, or polygon feature data in a file in a item

Combine data

Combine data operations allow you to merge, overlay, and join multiple sources of feature data to create new feature data.

Operation	Description	Input data	Output data	Example
Merge layers	Combines two feature datasets and returns a new a feature dataset. The input feature data must contain the same type of geometry (point, polyline, or polygon). Attributes can be added, removed, renamed, or matched.	Point, polyline, or polygon feature data	Point, polyline, or polygon feature data
Overlay layers	Combines two or more feature datasets using intersect, union, or erase and returns a new feature dataset. All of the feature attributes are persisted in the output feature data.	Point, polyline, or polygon feature data	Point, polyline, or polygon feature data
Join features	Combines the attributes from one feature dataset to another based on spatial and/or attribute relationships and returns new feature data. The type of attribute and spatial relationship join operations can be specified. Feature geometry and attribute summary statistics can also be generated.	Point, polyline, polygon, or table feature data	Point, polyline, polygon, or table feature data
Dissolve boundaries	Combines polygons from feature datasets that overlap or share a common boundary and returns new feature data. Feature geometry and attribute summary statistics can also be generated.	Polygon feature data	Polygon feature data

Summarize data

Summarize data operations allow you to calculate spatial and attribute statistics on feature data to create new feature data.

Operation	Description	Input data	Output data	Example
Aggregate points	Finds which points fall inside polygons using a point-in-polygon spatial relationship and returns new feature data. Feature geometry and attribute statistics are also generated for the number of points in each polygon.	Point or polygon feature data	Polygon feature data
Summarize nearby	Finds features within a specified distance of other feature data and returns new feature data. The distance measure can be a straight line or defined by travel mode (e.g. drive time or distance). Feature geometry and attribute statistics are also generated.	Point, polyline, or polygon feature data	Point, polyline, or polygon feature data
Summarize within	Finds areas (and portions of areas) that overlap between two feature datasets, calculates statistics about the overlap, and returns new feature data. Additional feature geometry and attribute statistics are also generated.	Polygon features Point, polyline, or polygon feature data	Point, polyline, or polygon feature data
Summarize center and dispersion	Finds central features and directional distribution in feature data and returns new feature data. It calculates the central, mean center, median center, or ellipse of features to determine the distribution.	Point, line, or polygon feature data	Polygon feature data

Analyze patterns

Analyze patterns operations allow you to perform complex geometry, attribute, and statistic calculations to identify spatial patterns and relationships in feature data. All operations result in new feature data.

Operation	Description	Input data	Output data	Example
Find hot spots	Finds spatially and statistically significant clusters of features with high values (red hot spots) and low values (blue cold spots) and returns new feature data. Calculations can be performed on geometries or geometries and attributes.	Point or polygon feature data	Point or polygon feature data
Find outliers	Finds spatial and statistical anomalies in clusters of feature data and returns new feature data. Features are assigned colors from red, blue, to beige (significantly high outlier to significantly low outlier).	Point or polygon feature data	Point or polygon feature data
Find point clusters	Finds clusters of point features at a specified distance and using unsupervised machine learning clustering algorithms and returns new feature data.	Point feature data	Point feature data
Calculate density	Finds areas in feature data that are the most and least dense and returns new feature data. It spreads known quantities of some phenomenon (represented as attributes of the points or lines) to create polygon features.	Point or line feature data	Polygon feature data
Interpolate points	Finds and predicts new features and attribute values in point feature data and returns new feature data. Parameters can be used to control the speed and accuracy of the analysis.	Point feature data	Polygon feature data

Calculate geometries

Calculate geometries operations allow you to perform different types of geometric calculations on feature data and to create new feature data such as grids, tessellations, and bins.

Operation	Description	Input data	Output data	Example
Create buffers	Creates areas at a distance around a point, line, or polygon feature and returns new feature data.	Point, polyline, or polygon feature data	Polygon feature data
Find centroids	Finds the representative center (centroid) of each multipoint, polyline, or polygon feature and returns new feature data.	Multipoint, point, polyline, or polygon feature data	Multipoint, point, polyline, or polygon feature data
Generate tessellations	Creates equally sized square, hexagon, triangle, or diamond geometry bins for an area or extent and returns new feature data.	Not required	Polygon feature data

Tutorials

Services

Spatial analysis service

Process spatial datasets to discover relationships and patterns.

API support

	Find data	Combine data	Summarize data	Analyze patterns	Calculate geometries
ArcGIS Maps SDK for JavaScript	1	1	1	1	1
ArcGIS Maps SDK for .NET
ArcGIS Maps SDK for Kotlin
ArcGIS Maps SDK for Swift
ArcGIS Maps SDK for Java
ArcGIS Maps SDK for Qt
ArcGIS API for Python
ArcGIS REST JS	1	1	1	1	1
Esri Leaflet	2	2	2	2	1
MapBox GL JS	2	2	2	2	1
OpenLayers	2	2	2	2	1

• 1. Access with geoprocessing task
• 2. Access via ArcGIS REST JS

Tools