3. Creating the First Python Script | ArcPy and ArcGIS: Geospatial Analysis with Python

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ArcPy and ArcGIS: Geospatial Analysis with Python

By : Silas Toms

3.9 (11)

ArcPy and ArcGIS: Geospatial Analysis with Python

3.9 (11)

By: Silas Toms

Overview of this book

If you are a GIS student or professional who needs an understanding of how to use ArcPy to reduce repetitive tasks and perform analysis faster, this book is for you. It is also a valuable book for Python programmers who want to understand how to automate geospatial analyses.

Preface

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Free Chapter

1. Introduction to Python for ArcGIS

1. Introduction to Python for ArcGIS

Overview of Python

Python as a programming language

Important Python Modules for GIS Analysis

Summary

2. Configuring the Python Environment

2. Configuring the Python Environment

What is a Python script?

What is the Python interpreter?

Make Python scripts executable when clicked on

Integrated Development Environments (IDEs)

Python folder structure

The sys.path.append() method

Summary

3. Creating the First Python Script

3. Creating the First Python Script

Prerequisites

Creating a model and exporting to Python

Exporting the model and adjusting the script

File paths in Python

Continuing the script analysis: the ArcPy tools

Adjusting the Script

Adding the CSV module to the script

The final script

Summary

4. Complex ArcPy Scripts and Generalizing Functions

4. Complex ArcPy Scripts and Generalizing Functions

Python functions–Avoid repeating code

Summary

5. ArcPy Cursors – Search, Insert, and Update

5. ArcPy Cursors – Search, Insert, and Update

The data access module

Inserting a polyline geometry

Inserting a polygon geometry

Summary

6. Working with ArcPy Geometry Objects

6. Working with ArcPy Geometry Objects

ArcPy geometry object classes

Summary

7. Creating a Script Tool

7. Creating a Script Tool

Adding dynamic parameters to a script

Creating a Script tool

Inspecting the final script

Summary

8. Introduction to ArcPy.Mapping

8. Introduction to ArcPy.Mapping

Using ArcPy with map documents

Inspecting and replacing layer sources

Automated map document adjustment

Running the script in the Python Window

Summary

9. More ArcPy.Mapping Techniques

9. More ArcPy.Mapping Techniques

Using arcpy.mapping to control Layer objects

Definition queries

Controlling the data frame window extent and scale

Summary

10. Advanced Geometry Object Methods

10. Advanced Geometry Object Methods

Creating a Python module

Adding advanced analysis components

Summary

11. Network Analyst and Spatial Analyst with ArcPy

11. Network Analyst and Spatial Analyst with ArcPy

The Network Analyst extension

Using Network Analyst

The Network Analyst module

Accessing the Spatial Analyst Extension

The final result

Summary

12. The End of the Beginning

12. The End of the Beginning

Getting field information from feature classes

Summary

Index

Index

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File paths in Python

It would be good to review how file paths are used in Python compared to how they are represented in Windows. In Python, file paths are strings, and strings in Python have special characters used to represent tabs (\t), newlines (\n), or carriage returns (\r), among many others. These special characters all incorporate single backslashes, making it very hard to create a file path that uses single backslashes. This would not be a big deal, except that file paths in Windows Explorer all use single backslashes.

There are a number of methods used to avoid this issue. Python was developed within the Linux environment, where file paths have forward slashes. This more Pythonic representation is also available when using Python in a Windows environment, demonstrated as follows:

Windows Explorer: "C:\Projects\PacktDB.gdb\Chapter3Results\Intersect71Census"
Pythonic version:  "C:/Projects/PacktDB.gdb/Chapter3Results/Intersect71Census"

Within a Python script, the file path with the...

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