Is it possible to append the same type of shapefile captured on two different Trimble Juno 3b's with ArcPad 10?

Question

I will soon have access to two Trimble Juno 3b's which will both have ArcPad 10. I have done some practice with one Juno 3b and I am very confident with my ability to use them. All I need to know is that if I have the same type of shapefiles, in this case points, and load them into each on of the Trimble Juno's, can I combine them?

I plan to hand one to another person and use the other myself to collect points on different areas of a field. Can I run some sort of tool or even a Python script in ArcMap 10.2.2 to combine both shapefiles so that it creates a single shapefile with the same attributes and spatial extent? I will need them to be combined so that I can use them all in Kriging interpolation.

I believe the union tool is a possibility, but can it be used with points collected in this manner?

Answer 1

You might look at creating a point feature class with the field structure that you require in ArcGIS, and then checking-out the schema of that fc (or the data, if you plan to carry out field edits to exisiting points) to both the Junos, using the Arcpad Data Manager toolbar. Do the data capture, and then check the data back in to ArcGIS. This will populate your fc with both sets of field data. This can be done with any number of field devices. There is no need for unions/merges etc.

Answer 2

As long as the units are set up the same and produce identical files (same attributes, field names, coordinate systems, etc.) then yes, there are several simple ways to combine the data from the two units. The Merge tool can combine them to a new file. The Append tool can add one file's points to the other. You could also use a copy/paste operation in an edit session to accomplish the same thing.

Union would not work, primarily because it only functions with polygons. It's an analysis tool more aimed at combining overlapping features to new features with the attributes of all the source features.