Book Image

ArcGIS Blueprints

By : Donald Eric Pimpler, Eric Pimpler
Book Image

ArcGIS Blueprints

By: Donald Eric Pimpler, Eric Pimpler

Overview of this book

This book is an immersive guide to take your ArcGIS Desktop application development skills to the next level It starts off by providing detailed description and examples of how to create ArcGIS Desktop Python toolboxes that will serve as containers for many of the applications that you will build. We provide several practical projects that involve building a local area/community map and extracting wildfire data. You will then learn how to build tools that can access data from ArcGIS Server using the ArcGIS REST API. Furthermore, we deal with the integration of additional open source Python libraries into your applications, which will help you chart and graph advanced GUI development; read and write JSON, CSV, and XML format data sources; write outputs to Google Earth Pro, and more. Along the way, you will be introduced to advanced ArcPy Mapping and ArcPy Data Access module techniques and use data-driven Pages to automate the creation of map books. Finally, you will learn advanced techniques to work with video and social media feeds. By the end of the book, you will have your own desktop application without having spent too much time learning sophisticated theory.

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ArcGIS Blueprints
Donald Eric Pimpler | Eric Pimpler
Dec, 2015 | 378 pages
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Table of Contents (18 chapters)
ArcGIS Blueprints
ArcGIS Blueprints
Credits
Credits
About the Author
About the Author
About the Reviewers
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
Extracting Real-Time Wildfire Data from ArcGIS Server with the ArcGIS REST API
Extracting Real-Time Wildfire Data from ArcGIS Server with the ArcGIS REST API
Design
Creating the ArcGIS Desktop Python Toolbox
Populating the feature class
Summary
2
Tracking Elk Migration Patterns with GPS and ArcPy
Tracking Elk Migration Patterns with GPS and ArcPy
Design
Creating migration patterns for Python toolbox
Creating the Import Collar Data tool
Reading data from the CSV file and writing to the feature class
Making the data frame and layer time-enabled
Coding the VisualizeMigration tool
Summary
3
Automating the Production of Map Books with Data Driven Pages and ArcPy
Automating the Production of Map Books with Data Driven Pages and ArcPy
Design
Setting up the Data Frame
Creating the Grid Index Features
Enabling Data Driven Pages
Creating the Locator Map
Adding dynamic text to the layout
Exporting the map series with ArcPy mapping
Summary
4
Analyzing Crime Patterns with ArcGIS Desktop, ArcPy, and Plotly(Part 1)
Analyzing Crime Patterns with ArcGIS Desktop, ArcPy, and Plotly(Part 1)
Design
Creating the Import Records tool
Creating the Aggregate Crimes tool
Building the Create Map tool
Performing Spatial Statistical Analysis
Summary
5
Analyzing Crime Patterns with ArcGIS Desktop, ArcPy, and Plotly(Part 2)
Analyzing Crime Patterns with ArcGIS Desktop, ArcPy, and Plotly(Part 2)
Design
Getting to know Plotly
Creating the Neighborhood Bar Chart tool
Creating the Create Line Plot tool
Creating the output
Summary
6
Viewing and Querying Parcel Data
Viewing and Querying Parcel Data
Design
Creating a user interface with wxPython
Creating the ArcGIS Python add-in
Summary
7
Using Python with the ArcGIS REST API and the GeoEnrichment Service for Retail Site Selection
Using Python with the ArcGIS REST API and the GeoEnrichment Service for Retail Site Selection
Design
Creating the Census Block Group selection tool
Creating the Define Potential Stores tool
Creating the Enrich Potential Stores tool
Summary
8
Supporting Search and Rescue Operations with ArcPy, Python Add-Ins, and simplekml
Supporting Search and Rescue Operations with ArcPy, Python Add-Ins, and simplekml
Design
Creating the Last Known Position tool
Creating the Search Area Buffers tool
Creating the Search Sector tool
Creating the Convert to Google Earth tool
Summary
9
Real-Time Twitter Mapping with Tweepy, ArcPy, and the Twitter API
Real-Time Twitter Mapping with Tweepy, ArcPy, and the Twitter API
Design
Extracting Tweet geographic coordinates with tweepy
Scheduling the script
Creating the heatmap
Summary
10
Integrating Smartphone Photos with ArcGIS Desktop and ArcGIS Online
Integrating Smartphone Photos with ArcGIS Desktop and ArcGIS Online
Design
Taking photos
Converting iPhone photos to a feature class
Creating a Web Map
Summary
Overview of Python Libraries for ArcGIS
Overview of Python Libraries for ArcGIS
Overview of Arcpy
Overview of the ArcPy mapping module
Overview of the Arcpy data access module
An overview of the ArcGIS REST API
Conclusion
Index
Index

Chapter 1. Extracting Real-Time Wildfire Data from ArcGIS Server with the ArcGIS REST API

The ArcGIS platform, which contains a number of different products, including ArcGIS Desktop, ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS for Server, and ArcGIS Online, provides a robust environment to perform geographic analysis and mapping. The content produced by this platform can be integrated using the ArcGIS REST API and a programming language such as Python. Many of the applications we'll build in this book use the ArcGIS REST API as the bridge to exchange information between software products.

We're going to start by developing a simple ArcGIS Desktop custom script tool in ArcToolbox that connects to an ArcGIS Server map service to retrieve real-time wildfire information. The wildfire information will be retrieved from a USGS map service that provides real-time wildfire data. For this chapter and all other chapters in this book, the reader is expected to have intermediate-level experience of Python and ArcPy. Ideally, you should be running version 10.3 or 10.2 of ArcGIS Desktop. Previous versions of ArcGIS Desktop have some significant differences that may cause problems in the development of some applications in the book.

We'll use the ArcGIS REST API and the Python requests module to connect to the map service and request the data. The response from the map service will contain data that will be written to a feature class stored in a local geodatabase using the ArcPy data access module.

This will all be accomplished with a custom script tool attached to an ArcGIS Python Toolbox. ArcGIS Python toolboxes are relatively new; they were first introduced in version 10.1 of ArcGIS Desktop. They provide a Python-centric method to create custom toolboxes and tools. The older method to create toolboxes in ArcGIS Desktop, while still relevant, requires a combination of Python and a wizard-based approach to create tools.

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

  • ArcGIS Desktop Python's toolboxes

  • The ArcGIS Server map and feature services

  • The Python requests module

  • The Python JSON module

  • The ArcGIS REST API

  • The ArcPy data access module that is arcpy.da

A general overview of the Python libraries for ArcGIS is provided in the appendix of this book. It is recommended that you read this chapter before continuing with the appendix and other chapters.

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