Importing numeric fields from CSV to DBF in ArcGIS Desktop?

Question

I am trying to import a CSV into a DBF using ArcCatalog (10.1). In the field map, pictured below, I can only set an ID field to Long, Text, Double, etc. But there is no Numeric type as in DBF and shapefile attributes.

If I import the ID field as a Long, values will be truncated. If I import it as Text, it will be different type than Numeric. In either case, I won't be able to join the imported DBF to a shapefile with the ID.

How should I choose the type so that the ID in the imported DBF can be joined with a 'Numeric' ID in shapefiles?

Answer 1

I took a closer look and actually the data wasn't truncated. It's just that some values are bigger (1477701) and others are smaller (203071). I thought I had a truncation issue when I saw the smaller values in the first page of the DBF and the large values from a segment of the attribute table of the shapefile they are supposed to match.

On a different note regarding the "No numeric field" issue, I know that DBFs save numerical values in decimal text forms of the Numeric type, and I got worried when I didn't see this option in ArcCatalog table-to-table importer's field types (i.e. when right click on CSV and export). What I did eventually is to import the CSV field as a Double as in the OP picture, and the field ended up in DBF as a Numeric field in ArcGIS. And this imported Numeric field matches OK with the Numeric field in the target shapefile it is supposed to match.

I suppose this is a good solution as importing integers as Double didn't introduce any imprecision like 3.000000001 and the imported values in DBF compare well with the values in shapefiles.