{"id":2777922,"date":"2025-05-13T10:20:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T17:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=2777922"},"modified":"2025-05-13T08:24:26","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T15:24:26","slug":"spatially-filter-feature-layers-with-definition-queries","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/spatially-filter-feature-layers-with-definition-queries","title":{"rendered":"Spatially Filter Feature Layers with Definition Queries"},"author":9702,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":""},"categories":[22941],"tags":[776362,779292,772832],"industry":[],"product":[36561],"class_list":["post-2777922","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mapping","tag-definition-query","tag-spatial-clause","tag-spatial-filter","product-arcgis-pro"],"acf":{"related_articles":[{"ID":178001,"post_author":"5051","post_date":"2012-01-20 23:22:23","post_date_gmt":"2012-01-20 23:22:23","post_content":"","post_title":"Best practices for using layer definition queries while creating features","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"best-practices-for-using-layer-definition-queries-while-creating-features","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2018-12-18 11:47:46","post_modified_gmt":"2018-12-18 19:47:46","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"http:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=178001","menu_order":0,"post_type":"blog","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"},{"ID":167001,"post_author":"4331","post_date":"2010-03-10 17:52:54","post_date_gmt":"2010-03-11 01:52:54","post_content":"","post_title":"Setting a Definition Query in ModelBuilder","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"setting-a-definition-query-in-modelbuilder","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2018-12-18 11:33:49","post_modified_gmt":"2018-12-18 19:33:49","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"http:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=167001","menu_order":0,"post_type":"blog","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"authors":[{"ID":9702,"user_firstname":"Gregory","user_lastname":"Lehner","nickname":"Greg Lehner","user_nicename":"glehner","display_name":"Greg Lehner","user_email":"GLehner@esri.com","user_url":"","user_registered":"2019-06-28 20:00:31","user_description":"Greg is a Sr. Product Engineer who's been mapping his way around Esri and ArcGIS Pro for over a decade. With experience in cartography, symbology, and data visualization, he's bound to finish that World Atlas project eventually.","user_avatar":""}],"short_description":"With ArcGIS Pro 3.5 and later, you can add a spatial clause to a definition query to filter features by their geographic attributes.","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

How many features do you need to see in your average feature layer? Yes, I\u2019ve asked you an impossible question with no context. But regardless of the answer, you can always change that answer with a definition query.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t know about them, definition queries<\/a> are statements that declare which features in a layer draw on a map. Definition queries are expressed in the SQL language, which has its own set of rules in ArcGIS<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To show how definition queries can be useful, I am designing a map of northwest France. I have a polygon feature class of French administrative regions, and a web service of European cities. If I have a field in the service that includes the region each city is located, I can construct a query to limit the features drawn to my area of interest.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2779362,"id":2779362,"title":"SpatialFilter_0","filename":"SpatialFilter_0.png","filesize":869170,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_0.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/spatially-filter-feature-layers-with-definition-queries\/spatialfilter_0","alt":"A map of northwest France","author":"9702","description":"","caption":"","name":"spatialfilter_0","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2777922,"date":"2025-04-30 20:36:18","modified":"2025-04-30 20:36:40","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":993,"height":781,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_0-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_0.png","medium-width":332,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_0.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":604,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_0.png","large-width":993,"large-height":781,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_0.png","1536x1536-width":993,"1536x1536-height":781,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_0.png","2048x2048-width":993,"2048x2048-height":781,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_0-591x465.png","card_image-width":591,"card_image-height":465,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_0.png","wide_image-width":993,"wide_image-height":781}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

The \u2018Northwest France\u2019 definition query\u2019s \u201cWHERE\u201d clause (in reference to SQL), or attribute clause, would look something like this:<\/p>\n

\n
WHERE \u201cregion\u201d IN (\u2018Bretagne\u2019, \u2018Normandie\u2019, \u2018Pays de la Loire\u2019)<\/pre>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Thus, if the city feature\u2019s region field does not equal one of these 3 values, the feature is not drawn.\u00a0 However, the dataset doesn\u2019t have a region field\u2026 Zut!<\/em><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2779382,"id":2779382,"title":"SpatialFIlter_2","filename":"SpatialFIlter_2.png","filesize":33056,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFIlter_2.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/spatially-filter-feature-layers-with-definition-queries\/spatialfilter_2","alt":"","author":"9702","description":"","caption":"","name":"spatialfilter_2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2777922,"date":"2025-04-30 20:37:49","modified":"2025-04-30 20:37:49","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":801,"height":370,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFIlter_2-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFIlter_2.png","medium-width":464,"medium-height":214,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFIlter_2.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":355,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFIlter_2.png","large-width":801,"large-height":370,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFIlter_2.png","1536x1536-width":801,"1536x1536-height":370,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFIlter_2.png","2048x2048-width":801,"2048x2048-height":370,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFIlter_2.png","card_image-width":801,"card_image-height":370,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFIlter_2.png","wide_image-width":801,"wide_image-height":370}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"
We need to filter out cities like St. Helier and St. Peter Port, which are prominent in the map but are \u2018British\u2019 cities. I also want to filter out French cities like Orleans and Poitiers, so filtering by country doesn\u2019t work either. The number of features is small enough that I could manually work through this issue, but I want an extensible workflow.<\/p>\n
Spatial clauses<\/h3>\n
Starting with ArcGIS Pro 3.5, you can solve issues like this with a spatial clause<\/strong>. It opens the door to filtering features by their spatial (geographic) attributes. Traditionally, (definition query) clauses must specify which features draw using field names and value ranges. This particular spatial clause starts with a WHERE declaration but uses spatial geometries to determine which features draw instead.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2779392,"id":2779392,"title":"SpatialFilter_4","filename":"SpatialFilter_4.png","filesize":12799,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_4.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/spatially-filter-feature-layers-with-definition-queries\/spatialfilter_4","alt":"The \"Add Spatial Clause\" command in ArcGIS Pro 3.5.","author":"9702","description":"","caption":"While editing a definition query, click the Add Clause button and choose Add Spatial Clause.","name":"spatialfilter_4","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2777922,"date":"2025-04-30 20:38:45","modified":"2025-04-30 20:39:20","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":615,"height":202,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_4-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_4.png","medium-width":464,"medium-height":152,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_4.png","medium_large-width":615,"medium_large-height":202,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_4.png","large-width":615,"large-height":202,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_4.png","1536x1536-width":615,"1536x1536-height":202,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_4.png","2048x2048-width":615,"2048x2048-height":202,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_4.png","card_image-width":615,"card_image-height":202,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_4.png","wide_image-width":615,"wide_image-height":202}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"
But what\u2019s a spatial geometry? Simply put, it\u2019s the area of interest. The spatial clause expression uses geometry \u2013 such as the spatial extent of the map, selected features, or the features currently in view \u2013 as its search area. The query parses the dataset for overlapping features and draws any feature that intersects the search area. Features outside the search area are not drawn.<\/p>\n
This is great, because we have our feature layer of regions. I can select the three regions of interest, then construct a definition query on the cities layer to filter it to this area.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2779372,"id":2779372,"title":"SpatialFilter_1","filename":"SpatialFilter_1.png","filesize":23527,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_1.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/spatially-filter-feature-layers-with-definition-queries\/spatialfilter_1","alt":"The Spatial Clause Geometry dialog window in ArcGIS Pro 3.5.","author":"9702","description":"","caption":"After selecting the three regions on my map, I can choose these selected features as my spatial clause geometry.","name":"spatialfilter_1","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2777922,"date":"2025-04-30 20:37:02","modified":"2025-04-30 20:40:54","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":500,"height":350,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_1-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_1.png","medium-width":373,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_1.png","medium_large-width":500,"medium_large-height":350,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_1.png","large-width":500,"large-height":350,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_1.png","1536x1536-width":500,"1536x1536-height":350,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_1.png","2048x2048-width":500,"2048x2048-height":350,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_1.png","card_image-width":500,"card_image-height":350,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_1.png","wide_image-width":500,"wide_image-height":350}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"
The resulting spatial clause looks like this in ArcGIS Pro:<\/p>\n
\n
WHERE Shape is intersected by <Geometry><\/pre>\n<\/blockquote>\n
This oversimplifies what\u2019s going on, but you can think of \u201cShape\u201d as the feature type (point, line, polygon, etc.) and \u201cGeometry\u201d as the spatial area we\u2019ve determined. In this case, it is our three administrative regions.<\/p>\n
To summarize: because we don\u2019t have city data with a region field, but have a dataset of administrative regions, we can use the selected polygon features as our \u2018spatial geometry\u2019 to filter out any cities outside the selection.<\/p>\n
I used this simpler example to demonstrate what can be accomplished. Do let us know if you\u2019d like to see a more advanced example in a future post, and how you plan to implement spatial filtering into your workflows. Until then, happy mapping!<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":2779402,"id":2779402,"title":"SpatialFilter_5","filename":"SpatialFilter_5.png","filesize":843823,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_5.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/spatially-filter-feature-layers-with-definition-queries\/spatialfilter_5","alt":"","author":"9702","description":"","caption":"\"Bon travail\"! St Helier and St Peters Port are no longer present.","name":"spatialfilter_5","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":2777922,"date":"2025-04-30 20:41:13","modified":"2025-04-30 20:41:41","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":977,"height":792,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_5-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_5.png","medium-width":322,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_5.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":623,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_5.png","large-width":977,"large-height":792,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_5.png","1536x1536-width":977,"1536x1536-height":792,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_5.png","2048x2048-width":977,"2048x2048-height":792,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_5-574x465.png","card_image-width":574,"card_image-height":465,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_5.png","wide_image-width":977,"wide_image-height":792}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"
Credits: Administrative region data courtesy of Esri France. Basemap is National Geographic Style Base.<\/em><\/p>\n"}],"show_article_image":false,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SpatialFilter_card2.png","wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Map-1.png"},"yoast_head":"\nSpatially Filter Feature Layers with Definition Queries<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With ArcGIS Pro 3.5 and later, you can add a spatial clause to a definition query to filter features by their geographic attributes.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-pro\/mapping\/spatially-filter-feature-layers-with-definition-queries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Spatially Filter Feature Layers with Definition 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