Is it possible to symbolise via a related table?

Question

I´m using ArcGIS for Desktop with an Advanced license level.

I´ve got a feature class with several points in it; each point contains information for location and Name. E.g. Location [Berlin] , Name [Deponiestrasse 1] Each Point describes a disposal site.

Now I want to connect the point information with a Table, which contains several information’s for each point. The Table contains information for Name e.g. [Deponiestrasse 1] and several types of disposal. This types can be [concrete] ; [gravel] ; [brick] ; [toxic waste] and so on, up to 10 for one point.

E.g. point 1: Name [Deponiestrasse 1] and types are [concrete] and [gravel]. My Idea to connect them, was to use the RELATE function.

But now my Problems are starting. I want to draw around each point a simple “ symbol box”, a small box with different colors e.g. concrete-blue, gravel-red, brick-green……. and so on. But via using the SYMBOLOGY function I can´t symbolise by using a related table.

So my questions are:

Is there any way to do this in this way? Or is there any possibility to write many types like [concrete] ; [gravel] ; [brick] into one attribute field of one point? Maybe you have another idea how to solve my problem.

I hope you understand my problem. I used google etc. but couldn´t find a solution.

Answer 1

As far as I know you cannot symbolize based on related tables out of the box.

There are various solutions including joining tables and populating fields with arcpy cursors, but I doubt any would be satisfactory for what you describe other than creating your own renderer with ArcObjects.

There is a sample multivariate renderer that would give you a good head start in the SDK. This is mentioned in the linked question Symbolising One-to-many relationships using ArcGIS Desktop?.