How to Make a Logical and Spatial Selection

1. In the Table of Contents (TOC), click on the desired layer once to activate it.
2. Right click on the layer and choose Properties.
3. Click on the Definition Query tab and then click the Query Builder button.
4. Double click the field you wish to restrict in the fields list, single click the operator and double click the values available from the values column.  (Click the Complete List button to see all the values of the selected field).
5. Verify that the expression was executed successfully.
6. Click OK to close the dialog box.
7. Click Apply and OK to close the Layer Properties box.
8. Make sure the layer is still active.
9. From the Selection menu, choose Select by Location.
10. Through a dialog box click a selection method.
11. Click the layers whose features you would like to select.
12. Choose a selection method.
13. Click the layer you want to use to search for the features.
14. Set the distance in which to search for features.
15. Click Apply and Close.

In the example provided, fields discovered after 1970 and within 50 miles of the Federal Waters Line are selected.

Video of Example

  click on image for video