Feature analysis tool differences

When a tool exists in both the standard spatial analysis and GeoAnalytics Tools toolsets, there are potential differences in that tool's execution. This topic describes the differences between the tools that are available in both toolsets. Some of these differences are common across all of the tools in the toolsets, and some apply to only a specific tool. For an overview of which tools are available in which toolsets, see Standard and GeoAnalytics Tools feature analysis comparison.

Major differences between standard analysis tools and GeoAnalytics Tools

A few capabilities are always different between standard analysis tools and GeoAnalytics Tools available through GeoAnalytics Server:

• GeoAnalytics Tools can analyze data in big data file shares (a Big Data File Share item in portal), while standard analysis tools cannot. For more information about big data file shares, see Get started with big data file shares.
• In many GeoAnalytics Tools, GeoAnalytics Server can apply time stepping to analysis, while standard analysis tools cannot.
• GeoAnalytics Server can optionally calculate the following statistics on fields that are not available in standard analysis tools: COUNT, VARIANCE, and RANGE on numeric fields, and COUNT and ANY on string fields.
• You cannot apply a Group By Field operation in GeoAnalytics Server or any subsequent options (minority or majority or percent points). At ArcGIS Enterprise 10.6.1 Summarize Within supports the Group By Field operation.

Individual tool differences

In addition to the differences that are common across multiple tools, individual tools also have some minor differences. The tools available in the standard and GeoAnalytics Tools toolsets are listed below with an outline of specific differences.

Aggregate Points

The differences in the Aggregate Points tool in standard feature analysis and GeoAnalytics Server are as follows:

• You can apply time stepping with the GeoAnalytics Tools version of the tool.

Calculate Density

The differences in the Calculate Density tool in standard feature analysis and GeoAnalytics Server are as follows:

• The GeoAnalytics Tools version of the tool allows you to calculate density on multiple fields at once.
• The GeoAnalytics Tools version can calculate density into square or hexagonal bins.
• The GeoAnalytics Tools version can apply time stepping.
• The GeoAnalytics Tools tool can specify whether the density should be calculated using a kernel or weighted weights.
• The GeoAnalytics Tools version does not allow polyline input data.

Create Buffers

The differences in the Create Buffers tool in standard feature analysis and GeoAnalytics Server are as follows:

• You can specify multiple buffer distances in the standard analysis tool but only one buffer distance in GeoAnalytics Tools.
• You can use a field or a field expression to create the buffer distance in GeoAnalytics Tools. These options are not available in standard analysis.
• You can optionally choose between planar and geodesic buffers in GeoAnalytics Tools. In standard analysis, there is no option to do so, and a geodesic buffer is applied by default.
• You can choose the ring type, side type, and end type in standard analysis. These options are not available in GeoAnalytics Tools.
• Dissolving is different in standard analysis and GeoAnalytics Tools in the following ways:
  • In the standard analysis toolset, you can choose whether or not to dissolve overlapping polygons.
  • In GeoAnalytics Tools, you can choose to dissolve all resulting features, none, or based on output fields. You can also decide if you want resulting features to be multipart or single part. If you wanted to recreate a dissolve overlapping that was completed in standard analysis, you would dissolve All and allow for multipart features.
• When you dissolve in GeoAnalytics Tools, you can calculate statistics for All or within Fields.

Find Hot Spots

The differences in the Find Hot Spots tool in standard feature analysis and GeoAnalytics Server are as follows:

• The GeoAnalytics Tools version of the tool requires you to specify the bin and neighborhood size.
• The GeoAnalytics Tools version of the tool can apply time stepping.
• The GeoAnalytics Tools version does not allow polygon input data.
• The GeoAnalytics Tools version does not apply a divide by field or bounding polygon layer.

Find Point Clusters

The differences in the Find Point Clusters tool in standard feature analysis and GeoAnalytics Server are as follows:

• The GeoAnalytics Tools version requires you to provide a search distance.
• The GeoAnalytics Tools version always applies the DBSCAN algorithm, while the standard analysis tool applies the DBSCAN or HDBSCAN algorithm.

Find Similar Locations

The differences in the Find Similar Locations tool in standard feature analysis and GeoAnalytics Server are as follows:

• The GeoAnalytics Tools version allows selection of the fields to append to the result.
• The GeoAnalytics Tools version applies an attribute profile match method.

Join Features

The differences in the Join Features tool in standard feature analysis and GeoAnalytics Server are as follows:

• GeoAnalytics Server allows you to apply temporal joins.
• The spatial relationships available differ between GeoAnalytics Tools and the standard tools.
• You can apply an Arcade expression to specify the feature you want to join in the GeoAnalytics Tools version of the tool.

Overlay Layers

The differences in the Overlay Layers tool in standard feature analysis and GeoAnalytics Server are as follows:

• The GeoAnalytics Tools version supports the Intersect and Erase overlay types, while the standard tool supports the Intersect, Erase, and Union overlay types.
• The GeoAnalytics Tools version supports overlays with polygon with polygon, line with line, and point with point. The standard analysis tool additionally supports points with lines, points with areas, and lines with areas.

Geocode Locations from Table

GeoAnalytics Tools cannot use the ArcGIS Online World Geocoder.