Book Image

ArcPy and ArcGIS - Second Edition

By : Silas Toms, Dara OBeirne
Book Image

ArcPy and ArcGIS - Second Edition

By: Silas Toms, Dara OBeirne

Overview of this book

ArcGIS allows for complex analyses of geographic information. The ArcPy module is used to script these ArcGIS analyses, providing a productive way to perform geo-analyses and automate map production. The second edition of the book focuses on new Python tools, such as the ArcGIS API for Python. Using Python, this book will guide you from basic Python scripting to advanced ArcPy script tools. This book starts off with setting up your Python environment for ArcGIS automation. Then you will learn how to output maps using ArcPy in MXD and update feature class in a geodatabase using arcpy and ArcGIS Online. Next, you will be introduced to ArcREST library followed by examples on querying, updating and manipulating ArcGIS Online feature services. Further, you will be enabling your scripts in the browser and directly interacting with ArcGIS Online using Jupyter notebook. Finally, you can learn ways to use of ArcPy to control ArcGIS Enterprise and explore topics on deployments, data quality assurances, data updates, version control, and editing safeguards. By the end of the book, you will be equipped with the knowledge required to create automated analysis with administration reducing the time-consuming nature of GIS.
Table of Contents (13 chapters)
8
Introduction to ArcGIS Online

ArcPy geometry object classes

In designing geometry objects, the authors of ArcPy made it possible to perform geospatial operations in memory, reducing the need to use tools in the ArcToolbox for these operations. This results in speed gains, as there is no need to write the results of the calculations to disk at each step of the analysis. Instead, the results of the steps can be passed from function to function within the script. The final results of the analysis can be written to the hard drive as a feature class, or they can written onto a spreadsheet, or passed to another program.

The geometry objects are written as Python classes: special blocks of code that contain internal functions. The internal functions are the methods and properties of the geometry objects; when called, they allow the object to perform an operation (a method), or to reveal information about the geometry...