HOW TO

Find features and parts of intersection features within a buffer in ArcGIS Online Map Viewer

Last Published: July 25, 2024

Summary

Finding features within a buffer is essential for spatial analysis, particularly for disaster response and risk assessment. For instance, mapping buildings, infrastructure, and population centers within a 50-mile radius of an earthquake's epicenter helps emergency services prioritize areas for rescue and relief operations. In ArcGIS Online Map Viewer, the Overlay Layers and Find by Attributes and Location tools can be used to perform spatial queries to find features and parts of intersection features within a buffer. This technique allows for more precise analysis by only including the intersecting part of a feature, which is useful when the goal is to understand a specific area of intersection rather than the entire feature.

This article provides the workflow to find features and parts of intersection features within a buffer in ArcGIS Online Map Viewer. The image below shows the epicenter of the earthquake and the surrounding islands. In this example, only islands and parts of the intersection of islands within 20 kilometers of the epicenter must be identified.

A map of islands within 20 kilometers of the epicenter in ArcGIS Online Map Viewer

Procedure

Use the Overlay Layers tool

Note:
Running the Create Buffers and Overlay Layers tools consumes credits. Refer to ArcGIS Online: Understand credits for spatial analysis for more information.
  1. In ArcGIS Online Map Viewer, open the published web map from My content. Refer to ArcGIS Online: Find and open a map for instructions. In this example, the web map contains layers for islands and earthquake epicenters.
The Layers pane in ArcGIS Online Map Viewer
  1. Create a buffer at a specified distance from the point feature layer using the Create Buffers tool.
    1. On the Settings (light) toolbar, click Analysis > Tools > Use proximity > Create Buffers.
    2. In the Create Buffers pane, for Input layer, click Layer and select the preferred point feature layer from the Select layer pane. In this example, the point feature layer named earthquake epicenters is selected.
    3. For Distance values, specify a distance to be used to create a buffer and click Add. In this example, it is 20.
    4. For Units, select the preferred unit for the buffer distance from the drop-down list. In this example, Kilometers is selected.
    5. Specify a name for the Output name parameter. Click Run.
The Create Buffers pane
  1. Find features and parts of intersection features within the newly created buffer layer using the Overlay Layers tool.
    1. In the Create Buffers pane, click Back > Manage data > Overlay Layers.
    2. In the Overlay Layers pane, for Input features, click Layer and select the newly created buffer layer in Step 2 from the Select layer pane.
    3. For Overlay features, click Layer and select the preferred feature layer from the Select layer pane. In this example, the polygon feature layer named islands is selected.
    4. For Overlay type, select Intersect from the drop-down list.
    5. Specify a name for the Output name parameter. Click Run.
The Overlay Layers pane

Use the Find by Attributes and Location tool

Note:
Running the Create Buffers and Find by Attributes and Location tools consumes credits. Refer to ArcGIS Online: Understand credits for spatial analysis for more information.
  1. In ArcGIS Online Map Viewer, open the published web map and create a buffer at a specific distance from the point feature layer using the Create Buffers tool. Refer to Steps 1 and 2 of the method described above for instructions.
  2. Find features and parts of intersection features within the newly created buffer layer using the Find by Attributes and Location tool.
    1. In the Create Buffers pane, click Back > Find locations > Find by Attributes and Location.
    2. In the Find by Attributes and Location pane, for Spatial and attribute queries, click Build new query and select Spatial expression. Click Next.
The Query builder window
    1. In the Query builder window, for Find features from, select the preferred feature layer from the drop-down list. In this example, the polygon feature layer named islands is selected.
    2. Click Spatial expression to specify the first spatial expression.
    3. Select the Intersects spatial operator from the drop-down list.
    4. Select the newly created buffer layer for the second layer from the drop-down list.
    5. Click Spatial expression to specify the second spatial expression.
    6. Select the Within a distance of spatial operator from the drop-down list and specify the distance and unit for the spatial operator. In this example, it is 20 kilometers.
    7. Select the newly created buffer layer in Step 2 for the second layer from the drop-down list. Click Add.
The Query builder window
    1. Check the Include only the parts of features that meet the criteria checkbox.
    2. Specify the Output name parameter.
    3. Click Run.
Note:
The entire feature is returned by default when the Find by Attributes and Location tool is used, even if only a portion of it meets all the spatial queries. This result is similar to the output from the Find Existing Locations tool in ArcGIS Online Map Viewer Classic. However, when checking the Include only the parts of features that meet the criteria checkbox, only the features and parts of the intersection features within the buffer layer are returned, which is similar to the output of the Derive New Locations tool in ArcGIS Online Map Viewer Classic.
Note:
Use the Summarize Within tool to calculate statistics for the features within the buffer, if necessary.

The image below shows the features and parts of the intersection features within the buffer based on the specified spatial query in ArcGIS Online Map Viewer.

The map of the features and parts of intersection features within a buffer in ArcGIS Online Map Viewer

Article ID: 000033114

Software:
  • ArcGIS Online

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