Group by proximity

Groups records that are within spatial or spatiotemporal proximity to each other.

Group by Proximity workflow

Usage notes

  • The output result is a copy of the input with a new field named group_id. The group_id field represents the grouping of records. Records with the same group_id value are in the same group. The group numbers represent membership in a particular group and do not imply value. The group numbers may not be sequential or the same number in repeated runs of the tool.

  • The supported spatial relationships and input geometries are described in the following table:

    IntersectsTouchesGeodesic NearPlanar Near
    Point
    Linestring
    Polygon
    Full supportPartial supportNo support
    • The spatial relationship definitions are outlined below.

    Overlay methodDescription
    IntersectsRecords intersect when records or portions of records overlap. This is the default.
    TouchesRecords touch another record if they have an intersecting vertex, but the records do not overlap.
    Geodesic NearRecords are near if a vertex or edge is within a given geodesic distance of another record.
    Planar NearRecords are near if a vertex or edge is within a given planar distance of another record.
    • When 'PlanarNear' is specified with setSpatialRelationship(), it is required that the input DataFrame's geometry column is projected or the tool will fail. You can transform your data to a projected coordinate system by using ST_Transform.

      Learn more about coordinate systems and transformations

    • The supported temporal relationships and temporal types are described in the following table:

      IntersectNear
      None
      Instant
      Interval
      Full supportPartial supportNo support
      • The temporal relationship definitions are outlined below.

      Temporal relationship methodDescription
      IntersectsWhen any part of a record's time overlaps another.
      NearRecords are near one another if a record's time is within a given time distance of another record.
      • You can specify any of the following combinations of relationships:

        • A spatial relationship value
        • A spatial relationship and a temporal relationship
        • A spatial relationship and an attribute relationship
        • A spatial relationship, temporal relationship, and an attribute relationship
      • Records are grouped when all specified relationships are met.

      • The attribute expression is a symmetric operation. The tool takes a single DataFrame that's compared against itself to group. Because of this, the input dataset is denoted as both a and b, and all expressions should include both a and b.

      • When specifying the attribute relationship you can create a Spark SQL expression or an Arcade expression. For example, to group all records where the column Amount has the same value do the following:

        • SQL: a.Amount = b.Amount
        • Arcade: $a.Amount == $b.Amount

      Limitations

      • Values will not be grouped across the anti-meridian.

      Results

      In addition to the original fields, the following additional fields are included:

      FieldDescription
      group_idThe grouping of records. Records with the same group_id value are in the same group. The group numbers represent membership in a particular group and don't imply value. The group numbers may not be sequential or the same number in repeated runs of the tool.

      Performance notes

      Improve the performance of Group By Proximity by doing one or more of the following:

      • Only analyze the records in your area of interest. You can pick the records of interest by using one of the following SQL functions:

        • ST_Intersection—Clip to an area of interest represented by a polygon. This will modify your input records.
        • ST_BboxIntersects—Select records that intersect an envelope.
        • ST_EnvIntersects—Select records having an evelope that intersects the envelope of another geometry.
        • ST_Intersects—Select records that intersect another dataset or area of intersect represented by a polygon.
      • When using the planar or geodesic near, use a smaller distance.
      • When using the spatial relationship parameter, the planar near option is faster than the geodesic near option.
      • When using the temporal relationship parameter's near option, use a smaller temporal near distance.

      Similar capabilities

      Similar tools:

      The following functions complete spatial overlay operations:

      Syntax

      For more details, go to the GeoAnalytics Engine API reference for group by proximity.

      SetterDescriptionRequired
      run(dataframe)Runs the Group By Proximity tool using the provided DataFrame.Yes
      setSpatialRelationship(spatial_relationship='Intersects', near_distance=None, near_distance_unit=None)Sets the type of spatial relationship to group by.Yes
      setTemporalRelationship(temporal_relationship='Intersects', temporal_distance=None, temporal_distance_unit=None)Sets the type of temporal relationship to group by.No
      setAttributeRelationship(expression=None, expression_type="sql")Sets the attribute expression to group by. The expression type can be sql or Arcade.No

      Examples

      Run Group by Proximity

      Python
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      # Log in
      import geoanalytics
      geoanalytics.auth(username="myusername", password="mypassword")
      
      # Imports
      from geoanalytics.tools import GroupByProximity
      from geoanalytics.sql import functions as ST
      
      # Path to the USA rivers and streams data
      usa_rivers_data_path = "https://services.arcgis.com/P3ePLMYs2RVChkJx/ArcGIS/rest" \
                  "/services/USA_Rivers_and_Streams/FeatureServer/0"
      
      # Create an Oregon rivers DataFrame from the USA rivers and streams data
      oregon_rivers_df = spark.read.format("feature-service") \
                                      .load(usa_rivers_data_path) \
                                      .where("State = 'OR'")
      
      # Run the Group by Proximity tool to find intersecting rivers and streams
      result = GroupByProximity() \
                 .setSpatialRelationship(spatial_relationship="Intersects") \
                 .run(dataframe=oregon_rivers_df)
      
      # View the first 5 rows of the result DataFrame
      result.select("State", "Name", "Region", "Feature", "Miles", "GROUP_ID") \
          .sort("Miles", ascending=False).show(5)
      
      Result
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      +-----+----------------+------+-------+------+--------+
      |State|            Name|Region|Feature| Miles|GROUP_ID|
      +-----+----------------+------+-------+------+--------+
      |   OR|Willamette River|    17| Stream| 160.8|    2374|
      |   OR|  John Day River|    17| Stream|122.73|     154|
      |   OR|   Nehalem River|    17| Stream|107.92|    1819|
      |   OR|  John Day River|    17| Stream|105.58|     154|
      |   OR| Deschutes River|    17| Stream|105.26|    1264|
      +-----+----------------+------+-------+------+--------+
      only showing top 5 rows

      Plot results

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      # Plot the grouped results
      # Create an Oregon boundary DataFrame and transform geometry to NAD 1983 StatePlane Oregon
      usa_states_path = "https://services.arcgis.com/P3ePLMYs2RVChkJx/ArcGIS/rest" \
                "/services/USA_State_Boundaries/FeatureServer/0"
      oregon_df = spark.read.format("feature-service").load(usa_states_path) \
                                  .where("STATE_NAME == 'Oregon'") \
                                  .withColumn("shape", ST.transform("shape", 6558))
      
      # Transform the grouped rivers' geometry to NAD 1983 StatePlane Oregon spatial reference
      result = result.withColumn("shape", ST.transform("shape", 6558))
      
      # Plot the result DataFrame with the Oregon data
      oregon_plot = oregon_df.st.plot(facecolor="none", linewidth = 2, edgecolors="black",
                                   figsize=(16,10), basemap="light")
      result_plot = result.st.plot(geometry="shape" ,cmap_values="GROUP_ID",
                                   is_categorical=True, cmap="tab20c",
                                   ax=oregon_plot )
      result_plot.set_title("Oregon rivers grouped by proximity")
      result_plot.set_xlabel("X (Meters)")
      result_plot.set_ylabel("Y (Meters)");
      Plotting example for a Group by Proximity result. Average speed is shown.

      Version table

      ReleaseNotes

      1.0.0

      Tool introduced

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