SAS Institute. The Power to Know

Export ArcMap data to a SAS data set

To export the attributes from an ArcMap layer to a SAS data set:

  1. Select the layer whose attributes are to be exported and right-click.

  2. Select Data Export to a SAS data set from the pop-up menu.
    Note: If this menu item is not available, you must add it as an extension to ArcMap.

  3. Choose to export All features or Selected features.
    Note: You must select rows from the layer's data set for Selected features to be available.

  4. Specify the SAS server to which the data is exported.
    Note: The list of available servers is generated from the SAS OLE database connections defined in ArcCatalog. The default server is the first one in the list. If you select a different SAS server, then it becomes the default server for subsequent exports. If a connection fails, then the next one in the list is tried until a connection is successful.
    If, and only if, the list of available servers is empty (because no SAS OLE database connection has been defined in ArcCatalog), then the SAS Bridge for ESRI attempts to use a local installation of SAS (which it names Local SAS).
    However, if a local installation of SAS is not available, then you must use ArcCatalog to add an OLE database connection.

  5. Specify the path and filename to be exported to. (If, and only if, you are exporting to a local SAS server, you can browse to the output location by clicking the File Open button .)
    By default, the data is written to SASUSER to a data set named Export_Output.sas7bdat. You can direct the output to any directory to which you have write access, and you can change the name from Export_Output to any valid SAS data set name. On subsequent exports, the name defaults to the last name that you entered.

  6. Choose whether to export geometry data also.
    Note: If you check this box, then two additional SAS data sets are created:
    One (with the suffix _xy) contains the x and y coordinates that define the feature.
    The other (with the suffix _xy_meta) contains spatial reference information.
    Note: If the attribute data set already exists, and if you choose Replace or Append, then that same action is performed on an existing geometry data set. If you choose Append and a geometry data set does not exist, then the export will fail. You can choose Replace instead to create the geometry data sets.

  7. Click OK.
Exporting ArcMap data to a SAS data set