I am working with some data that shows land management. There are many places where corners "touch". I would like to dissolve my dataset so that features are grouped (dissolved) with those that they share a touching corner. Each section (square) is a unique feature (row). In the image below I've circled the features that I would like to group in this dissolve. I am using ArcGIS and have an editor and SA license.
As long as the features you've circled do actually touch (intersect) each other, you can do this like so:
Dissolve your layer without using a Dissolve Field. That will dissolve the layer based solely on its geometry, so any features that touch each other will be merged to one geometry and one feature. It will also make the entire layer one multi-part feature, but that won't matter after the next step.
Start editing the output layer of your Dissolve, select all the features in it, then Explode them (on the Advanced Editing toolbar). That will separate the one giant multi-part feature into one feature for each group of features which intersected each other in your original layer. This can also be done using the Multipart To Singlepart geoprocessing tool.
You want to merge the individual polygons into a single, multipart, feature. You do this by opening an edit session, selecting each group according to how you want them grouped, then click on the "Editor" box/button on the editing toolbar, select Merge... and then follow the instructions. You just have to pick which set of attribute data you want to use to represent the new group of polygons.
You could use the Dissolve tool and simply uncheck the "Create multipart features" box. This should have the same result as Dan C's answer, but only requires one step.
