Selecting Features

Francisco Olivera, Ph.D., P.E.Department of Civil Engineering

Texas A&M University

Selecting Features

Selecting features consists of flagging a subset of the features of a digital spatial dataset.

Features can be selected either on the map or in the tables.

When a feature is selected on the map, its corresponding record is selected in the table, and vice versa.

Many ArcView functions and commands apply only to selected features. When either all or none of the features are selected ArcView functions and commands apply to all features

… on the Map

Features can be selected using the Select Feature tool.

Make the theme active, click on the Select Feature tool, and then on the feature you want to select.

Hold the Shift button down while clicking on the feature to select multiple features.

Draw a box to select multiple features all at once.

Using a single digital spatial dataset.

… on the Map

Features can be selected using the Select Features Using Graphic button.

Make the theme active, click on the graphic, and click on the Select Feature Using Graphic button to select all features that intersect the graphic.

Using a digital spatial dataset and a graphic.

… on the Map

Multiple features can be selected according to a spatial query condition using the Theme/Select by Theme … menu.

Adjacent features can be selected using the Are within a distance of option on the same dataset.

Using two digital spatial datasets.

… on the Map

The Query Builder and the Find buttons, although available in the View GUI, select records based on the attribute table information and are discussed later.

To unselect all features, click on the Clear Selected Features button.

… in the Table

Records can be selected using the Select tool.

Make the Table window active, click on the Select tool, and then on the record you want to select.

Hold the Shift button down while clicking on the record to select multiple records.

Using a single table.

… in the TableRecords can be selected using the Find button.

Make the Table window active, click on the Find button, type the text you are looking for, and click OK. Find selects the first record containing the text.

The text does not have to be the complete string of a record field. The Find button is not case sensitive and does not recognize numbers unless they are stored as strings.

Using a single table.

… in the Table

Multiple records can be selected using the Query Builder button.

Make the Table window active, click on the Query Builder button, type the condition that defines the records you are looking for, and click New Set, Add To Set or Select From Set.

Using a single table.

… in the Table

The Select All button selects all records of the table.

The Select None button unselects all records of the table.

The Switch Selection button toggles the selected records.

Charts

Only selected records are plotted in a chart.

Charts update automatically to the feature/record selection.