I have two different files. The first file is from the United State Census. It is a file consisting of the census tracts for 1990. Each polygon has information that labels its census tract, namely a variable named "TRACTBNA".
The second file is from the King County GIS office. It is a shapefile of all the property parcels within King County. Each polygon has a unique PIN (parcel identification number).
Both the parcels and census tracts are polygons. I need each PIN or polygon from the second file to be given a TRACTBNA. I used join by using the join and relates, and choosing "join data from another layer based on spatial location". I also chose the second option.
I exported the data as dbf and I opened it with Excel. I find that not every parcel was given a TRACTBNA, in other words it is empty.
My guess is that some parcels may not lie completely inside a single polygon, and those aren't spatially joined. I don't care if it randomly selects one of the polygons it intersects, as long as all of them receive something.
I am using ArcGIS.