Introduced with the release of ArcGIS 10.1, the new data access module known as arcpy.da has made data interaction easier, and faster, than allowed by previous data cursors. By allowing for direct access to the shape field in a variety of forms (shape object, X values, Y values, centroid, area, length, and more), and a variety of formats (JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), Keyhole Markup Language (KML), Well Known Binary (WKB), Well-Known Text (WKT)), the data access module greatly increases the ability of a GIS analyst to extract and control shape field data.

The data access cursors accept a number of required and optional parameters. The required parameters are the path to the feature class as a string (or a variable representing the path) and the fields to be returned. If all fields are desired, using the asterisk notation and provide a list with an asterisk as a string as the field's parameter ( [ * ] ). If only a few fields are required, provide those fields as...