Dear List Thank you very much for the suggestions for joining my two tables.
The join (using the where object contains clause) should have worked but only returned 52 out of 200,000 rows. The tables had the same hectare grids. I re-created the map plots so that they were using the same hectare grid (I thought maybe the centroids or grid square boundaries were slightly out) ... No! I re-sorted them so that the Northings and Eastings were in similar rows ... No! I tried just about everything but every time I tried to join it only returned the magic 52 rows (always). I have ended up getting my combined layer from someone who has ArcView - in fact nearly all my more (I suppose) advanced processing is having to come from that source because virtually everything I am trying is not working - possibly because my datasets are so vast. Another thing which my ArcView friend is sending me is something that will take him 5 mins but I have been processing since 3 pm yesterday afternoon and it is still going! - I am trying to make a boundary of the above file so that I can use it as a cookie cutter for other habitat datasets. I used the combine objects/region facility (ticking the "no data" box) - but will it work quickly? ... No. My friend will use a tool in ArcView called "Dissolve" and this will do it in five mins apparently. I was unable to find anything else in the Help files as to how to make one region out of a lot of polygons - quickly - so I will be curious to see whether after all this time the program will actually have worked. Obviously unable to use MI while it is processing which is not very efficient. Anybody out there ready to defend MI??!! Cheers Jacqui Middleton
