Esta es una forma muy simplista de la prueba, pero creo que muestra de manera concluyente que Merge+Dissolve
es aproximadamente 3 veces más rápido que Union+Dissolve
en este conjunto de datos, y creo que lo más complejo de los datos se produce en él, la diferencia sólo ampliar.
import arcpy,time
if arcpy.Exists("C:/temp/test.gdb"):
arcpy.Delete_management("C:/temp/test.gdb")
arcpy.CreateFileGDB_management("C:/temp","test.gdb")
arcpy.CreateFishnet_management("C:/temp/test.gdb/fishnet1","10 10","10 20","1","1","50","50","#","LABELS","0 0 75 75","POLYLINE")
arcpy.Buffer_analysis("C:/temp/test.gdb/fishnet1_label","C:/temp/test.gdb/fishnet1circles","0.51 Unknown","FULL","ROUND","NONE","#")
arcpy.CreateFishnet_management("C:/temp/test.gdb/fishnet2","10.1 10.1","10.1 20","1","1","50","50","#","LABELS","0 0 75 75","POLYLINE")
arcpy.Buffer_analysis("C:/temp/test.gdb/fishnet2_label","C:/temp/test.gdb/fishnet2circles","0.51 Unknown","FULL","ROUND","NONE","#")
start = time.clock()
arcpy.Merge_management("C:/temp/test.gdb/fishnet1circles;C:/temp/test.gdb/fishnet2circles","C:/temp/test.gdb/fishnetMerge","#")
elapsed = (time.clock() - start)
print("Merge took " + str(elapsed) + " seconds")
arcpy.Dissolve_management("C:/temp/test.gdb/fishnetMerge","C:/temp/test.gdb/fishnetMergeDissolve","#","#","MULTI_PART","DISSOLVE_LINES")
elapsed = (time.clock() - start)
print("Merge and Dissolve took " + str(elapsed) + " seconds")
start = time.clock()
arcpy.Union_analysis("C:/temp/test.gdb/fishnet1circles #;C:/temp/test.gdb/fishnet2circles #","C:/temp/test.gdb/fishnetUnion","ONLY_FID","#","GAPS")
elapsed = (time.clock() - start)
print("Union took " + str(elapsed) + " seconds")
arcpy.Dissolve_management("C:/temp/test.gdb/fishnetUnion","C:/temp/test.gdb/fishnetUnionDissolve","#","#","MULTI_PART","DISSOLVE_LINES")
elapsed = (time.clock() - start)
print("Union and Dissolve took " + str(elapsed) + " seconds")
Corrí la prueba de INACTIVIDAD utilizando ArcGIS for Desktop 10.1 SP1 y Python 2.7.2 en Windows 7 SP1 y los resultados fueron:
>>>
Merge took 1.82999991257 seconds
Merge and Dissolve took 5.45186011302 seconds
Union took 7.6488681498 seconds
Union and Dissolve took 14.1194398165 seconds
>>>
Como usted sugiere el Disolver después de que la Unión era un poco más rápido que el de Disolver después de la Combinación, pero no suficiente para superar la gran brecha entre la Mezcla y de la Unión.