Relating a table to a point layers and exporting results in model builder?

Question

Here are the data that I'm working with:

Table:

• Standalone table from an OLE DB connection with a MS Access db
• 10,800 records with non-distinct account IDs
• Divided into 300 different categories

Layer:

• Spatial point layer
• 1,700,000 records with distinct account IDs

I ultimately need to create a compiled feature class made up of points representing each of the 10,800 account ID records in my Access database. The idea is that some of the points will be duplicated and redundantly stacked in this final layer — I could do one giant relate, but I need the many-to-one relationship symbolized.

The Account IDs are only duplicated between the 300 categories, i.e., Category1 has distinct account IDs, but you could see some of the same IDs from Category1 in Category2.

Here is my manual workflow:

1. Select just the records for Category1 in the Table
2. Select related points from the point layer and create a point layer selection
3. Join the data from the connected table with the point selection and export as a new feature class
4. Merge/Append with ultimate compiled feature class

Doing this for all 300 categories seems tedious. I've experimented with "Make Table View" and "Table to Excel" but it doesn't look like I can relate or join anything in the ModelBuilder and have it spit out a new selection feature class. Plus, it would be great if I could have it iterate through the relates based on all of the 300 unique category values.

Answer 1

Here is a model to create the feature class subsets. You can add in your relationship table where you need it. There are tools to create relationships: http://desktop.arcgis.com/en/arcmap/10.3/manage-data/relationships/creating-a-simple-relationship-class.htm

Here is the model. For the output feature class name, put %Value%:

Iterate feature selection settings - group by your category field:

Feature class to feature class settings - set output to %Value% to use the category as feature class name: