{"id":19125,"date":"2019-05-01T05:49:37","date_gmt":"2019-05-01T10:49:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/?p=19125"},"modified":"2025-05-31T20:33:36","modified_gmt":"2025-06-01T01:33:36","slug":"spatial-join","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gisgeography.com\/spatial-join\/","title":{"rendered":"How Spatial Join Works in GIS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Spatial<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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How Spatial Join Works in GIS<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Spatial Join<\/strong> tool inserts the columns from one feature table to another based on location or proximity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s say you have a set of land parcels. Each land parcel has a point inside of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By running a spatial join, you can transfer attributes<\/strong> from the point table columns into the land parcel layer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So that means that if the points have the owner’s name, this field gets transferred to the land parcels.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Types of Spatial Join<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The spatial join tool uses geographic proximity to combine attributes. It moves the columns from the join features to the target features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before you run a spatial join, you have to select a spatial join type. That is, the proximity the spatial join will search for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on their spatial relationships<\/a>, here are the most common spatial join types.<\/p>\n\n\n