Arcmap and attribute table

Question

I am wondering how you can save multiple data for one point feature in ArcMap?

For example, I have a shape-file with point features, the data that needs to be included for each point feature consists of different years (2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010). Each year includes data such as total number of students, enrollments, est. How can I save this data in arcMap for each specific point feature?

I need to be able to save all data for individual point features, from which I can load into Geoserver, and when a point feature is selected in OpenLayers (Geoserver), all the (yearly) data will be displayed.

So far I have tried joining the data in arcmap, but when served up in GeoServer, only the year 2007 is displayed when a point feature is selected, and the rest of the years are not displayed (happens for all point features).

• Alex Tereshenkov: Can you explain the workflow in details, please? You open the shapefile in ArcMap, perform some joins. Then you somehow serve this shapefile via GeoServer (how do you do this?).
• user3591482: Hi Alex. I opened a shapefile in ArcMap from which I proceeded to use the Join Data by right-cliking the layer and selecting "joins" and "selecting join attributes from a table". The actual process of serving the shapefile in Geoserver (All done in Geoserver) involves adding a new store (shapefile), selecting the shapefile and publishing the shapefile (SRS,bounding box, lat/long est).

Answer 1

When performing the attribute join in ArcMap, the joined information (that you can see in the attribute table) is stored within a map document (.mxd) file. In order to save joined fields in the new shapefile (so it will have fields for each year you need), you have to export the joined layer from the table of contents.

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The result shapefile exported on the disk can be used further in your workflow when you expose it via non-ArcGIS software.

• user3591482: Thanks for your help Alex. I will give this a shot. Many thanks.

Answer 2

If you have a table with a row for each combination of year and point ID, then you have a many-to-one relationship ... multiple rows (years) for each point. This is always a pain in GIS because you have can't visualize multiple related rows very easily.

If you have few enough years you have to deal with, you can work around the problem by creating a column for each attribute for each year ... enrollment_2007, enrollment_2008, etc. Then you have only one record for each point, and it will export cleanly out into a shapefile for geoserver.