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There is a point feature class with a certain numeric attribute (let us say, populated places with population).

I wonder if there is, in ArcGIS, a way to draw polygons such that the sum of the attribute for all the points within each polygon does not exceed a certain value.

Does anyone know how this might be done?

I'm using ArcGIS 10.2 for Desktop.

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    can you draw a picture? You can create Voronoi (Thiessen) polygons from your points but dissolving them such that the dissolved polygon has a specific value sounds a little more tricky. Would you be doing this with arcpy, model builder or ArcObjects? There isn't a native way to do this (that I know of).
    – Michael Stimson
    Apr 29, 2015 at 0:43
  • I'll see if I can draw a picture soon. Yes, this is somewhat like Voronoi (Thiessen) polygons, except that there can be more than one point within each polygon, but the attribute's value for the points within a polygon may not add up to more than a certain figure. I will probably be doing this with ModelBuilder.
    – Mhoram
    Apr 29, 2015 at 13:23
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    The basic problem is called the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP) and the task is known as Zone Design. The issue is that without some criteria other than just a total value, there are potentially an arbitrary number of possible solutions. You're dealing with points, but even if you converted each point to a polygon with Thiessen, combining the results leads to the same issue. See gis.stackexchange.com/questions/31324 and its linked questions. It's like group/cluster analysis except you want value not proximity/groupsize.
    – Chris W
    Apr 29, 2015 at 20:38

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