The output result is a copy of the input with a new field named group_id. The group_id field represents the grouping of features. Features 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 repeat use of the tool. Results will be symbolized with eight groups. If there are more than eight groups in the result, all groups will be symbolized with eight colors by default. You can modify the symbology to show each unique group by symbolizing with unique symbols on the group_id field.

The tool supports the following combinations of relationships:

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

Point

Polyline

Polygon

Intersects

Features intersect when features or portions of features overlap. This is the default.

Touches

Features touch another feature if they have an intersecting vertex, but the features do not overlap.

Geodesic Near

Features are near if a vertex or edge is within a given geodesic distance of another feature.

Planar Near

Features are near if a vertex or edge is within a given planar distance of another feature.

To use the Spatial Relationship parameter's Planar Near option, the Input Layer parameter value must be projected or the output coordinate system is set to a projected coordinate system.

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

None

Instant

Interval

Intersects

Features intersect when any part of a feature's time overlaps another.

Near

Features are near one another if a feature's time is within a given time distance of another feature.

To use a temporal relationship, you must enable time on the input. You can enable time by doing the following:

Attribute expressions are a symmetric operation. The tool takes a single input layer that is compared to itself when grouping. Because of this, the input layer is denoted as both a and b in the ArcGIS Arcade expression, and all expressions need to include both a and b. For example, to group all records when the Amount field has the same value, use the following expression: $a["Amount"] == $b["Amount"].

You can improve performance of the Group By Proximity tool by doing one or more of the following:

This geoprocessing tool is powered by Spark. Analysis is completed on your desktop machine using multiple cores in parallel. See Considerations for GeoAnalytics Desktop tools to learn more about running analysis.

When running GeoAnalytics Desktop tools, the analysis is completed on your desktop machine. For optimal performance, data should be available on your desktop. If you are using a hosted feature layer, it is recommended that you use ArcGIS GeoAnalytics Server. If your data isn't local, it will take longer to run a tool. To use your ArcGIS GeoAnalytics Server to perform analysis, see GeoAnalytics Tools.