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I have flood data from the past ten years written in an Excel table. Now I would like to connect the table to ArcMap, so I can join it with the shapefiles. Normally this isn't that hard, but because we talk about floods, we want to hold the Excel table up to date.

What we want is a connection between ArcMap and Excel/Access so we can edit the tables and the data will automatically change in ArcMap (without a new import->join->etc..).

I think it is something with a geodatabase, but till now it isn't working at all.

Does somebody know if this is possible and how?

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  • Bring it to access as linked table, load to arcgis
    – FelixIP
    Commented Dec 5, 2016 at 8:33

1 Answer 1

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  1. open your excel and rename all you field names (with no character except "_" or letters, none of them should start with number)
  2. Open ArcCatalog
  3. Explorer you folder and create a New Personal Geodatabase (By right click to that folder / New / New Personal Geodatabase)
  4. close ArcCatalog and open the geodatabase by Access
  5. Import your excel data to this geodatabase
  6. open ArcMap and explore your table (you can edit,append,delete,join your table using arcmap)

You can upload data using add theme but you cannot find if any of you data is missed. So is better to use this method because if any error of you excel data access will create a table with errors so you can find your data that cant be imported.

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  • When I have joined it to an feature and I add a new flood in Access, will this new flood automatically join the table (and feature) in arcmap?
    – Watermanagement
    Commented Dec 5, 2016 at 9:18
  • These are steps to have a clean table. Than you can create a new joined feature inside this geodatabase (Geometry+table). You can open this new feature and edits it even by access even by arcmap but remember do not make changes to other tables or do not make changes on field of indexes or geometry (geometry must be added by using arcmap not access)
    – riflo
    Commented Dec 5, 2016 at 9:27
  • So in the end I will have one big personal database right? With my Access(Excel)tables, with my features and maybe also with the colorstyle in it? Then everything is linked on eachother and some new added floods will show automatically
    – Watermanagement
    Commented Dec 5, 2016 at 9:30
  • yes you will have a geodatabase with excel and geometry (not colorstyle, they cannot stored inside geodatabase). But if you have created a new feature with joined field, forged the excel, you table will be inside new feature. Than you should work with new feature created.
    – riflo
    Commented Dec 5, 2016 at 9:37
  • Alright, To make a test I added Year2017 to the table in Access now, but the exceltable doesn't change to a new one with the Year2017 field in it.
    – Watermanagement
    Commented Dec 5, 2016 at 10:02

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