PYTHON FOR ARCGIS
Su Zhang, Ph.D., GISP, CMS-RS
WHAT IS PYTHON
• It is a programming language that is both
simple and powerful, and more importantly,
it is simple and easy to learn
• It is free and open source
• It is cross platform gisgeography.com
• Interpreted language, no special compilers
required
• Object Oriented Programming language
alphansotech.com
SCRIPTING VS PROGRAMMING
• Scripting – automating certain functionality
within another program
• Programming – developing more sophisticated
multifunctional applications
• Scripting is a programming task allows you to
connect various existing components to
accomplish a new, related task
• Scripting is the glue that allows you to put
various existing elements together
geeksforgeeks.org
• Programming allows you to build components
from scratch, as well the applications that Python is both a scripting and a
incorporate these components (system programming language!
language)
SCRIPTING IN ARCGIS
• ArcGIS 9 introduced scripting support for many
popular scripting languages, including, but not limited
to, Python, VBScript, JavaScript, JScript, PERL, C#,
Ruby, Scala, and Arcade
• Starting with ArcGIS 10, the Visual Basic for
Applications (VBA) development environment is no
longer installed by default, and ESRI is discouragingly
the continued use of VBA
• Python is included with ArcGIS for Desktop installation
• ArcToolBox contains tools created from python scripts
• Check your ArcGIS Installation files for python version
esri.com
SCRIPTING IN ARCGIS PRO
HOW TO WRITE PYTHON SCRIPTS?
• Python Command line
All Programs > ArcGIS > Python x.x > Python (commnad
line) or Python Command Prompt or IDLE (Python GUI)
or Python Interactive Terminal or IPython
• Python Script Editor
Integrated development environments (IDEs)
Syntax formating and highlighting
Jupyter Notebook
• Python window in ArcMap or ArcGIS Pro
• Other code editors – Notepad++, PythonWin, Visual Studio
Code, ...
https://wiki.python.org/moin/PythonEditors
SCRIPTING IN ARCGIS
IDLE (Python GUI) Jupyter Notebook
Python File Python window in ArcMap
PYTHON AND GEOPROCESSING
• Allows to perform spatial analysis,
modeling, and automating GIS tasks
• Supports the automation of workflows
by creating a sequence that combines
series of tools
• Geoprocessing framework comprises of
Tools organized in toolboxes and toolsets
Methods to find and execute tools
(standard tools, model builder, & python)
Parameters and environment settings
Results window that logs the tool
execution
TYPES AND CATEGORIES OF TOOLS
• Types
Built-in tools
Model tools
Script tools
Specialized tools
• Categories
System tools - installed as part of ArcGIS
software
Custom tools - script and model tools or other
third party Add-ins
desktop.arcgis.com
TOOL TYPES
desktop.arcgis.com
TOOL CATEGORIES
MODELBUILDER VS PYTHON
• ModelBuilder is a visual programming language
Intuitive way to create tools/workflows
String together sequences of geoprocessing tools
Requires no programming experience or to learn syntax pro.arcgis.com
Could be slow pro.arcgis.com
• Python is a text-based programming language
Allows advanced programming logic
Can be used with other software packages
Can be run as a standalone script outside of ArcGIS
Can be scheduled to run at a specific time
Much faster
Build your model first! And
then build your code!
MODELBUILDER VS PYTHON
• Models can be converted
to scripts, but not vice
versa
• ModelBuilder has
limitations and cannot
perform more complex
geoprocessing operations
PYTHON WINDOW IN ARCGIS
DESKTOP
PYTHON WINDOW IN ARCGIS PRO
• The bottom session of the Python
window is called the prompt, where you
can type your code
• The top session of the Python window
is called the transcript, which is intially
blank. The transcript provides a record
of previously entered code and its
results.
• Right click on the codes and select
Clear Transcript to delete codes.
PYTHON WINDOW IN ARCGIS DESKTOP
• Single line code can be executed with ENTER
command at the end of each line
• Multiple line code can be executed with ENTER
command two times
• Result is printed to top session and bottom
session starts with a new prompt
• Multiline code uses secondary prompt to
complete the code. Secondary prompt is
automatically added when pressing the ENTER
key at the end of a line of code
• All geoprocessing tools can be accessed by
importing ArcPy site package
desktop.arcgis.com
PYTHON WINDOW IN ARCGIS DESKTOP
• Supports Autocomplete functionality
• Conditional execution can be
performed using if-then-else logic
• Iteration can be done with for and
while loops
• Python provides access to third party
modules for data manipulation
• Python code blocks written in the
window can be saved to a python or
text file
• Allows to load code from another file
PYTHON BASICS
Basics of Python
DATA TYPES
• Strings: texts such as “GIS”
• Lists: stores a sequence of items
inside brackets separated by
commas [1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32] or
[“Ford”, “Chevy”, “Toyota”,
“Honda”, “Subaru”]
• Tuples: Similar to lists, uses
parentheses, but are immutable,
meaning they cannot be changed
1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 16, 32
DATA TYPES
• Boolean: True or False
• Dictionaries: stores pairs of items (key
and values) {“Austin”: “Texas”,
“Baltimore”: “Maryland”, “Cleveland”:
“Ohio”, “Denver”: “Colorado”}
• Numeric: 5, 1.3435926, 3+1j
• Set is an unordered collection of data
type that is iterable, mutable and has no
duplicate elements; The order of
elements in a set is undefined though it
may consist of various elements [1, 2,
'Geeks', 4, 'For', 6]
DATA TYPES
• Python scripts uses variables to
store information
• Python will know your variable’s
type by the value you assigned to
If 17 then it is integer
If “GIS” then it is string
If 3.1415926 then it is float
• No need to declare a variable and
define its type before you can
actually use it
Int age = 20 (variable type, variable
name, and then variable value)
EXPRESSIONS, STATEMENTS, FUNCTIONS,
METHODS
• An expression is a value
Ex: 2 * 3 is an
expression returning the
value of 6
• Expressions can be built
using operators and
functions
• Expressions can contain
variables
EXPRESSIONS, STATEMENTS, FUNCTIONS,
METHODS
• A statement is an
instruction to perform
something
Ex: x = 2 * 3
Ex: Print, for, if-then-else,
...
• A statement do not return a
value (exception print)
EXPRESSIONS, STATEMENTS, FUNCTIONS,
METHODS
• A function is similar to a statement (to do
something) and returns a value
• A function is a small program used to
carry out a certain action.
Ex: pow (2, 3)
• Python includes some built-in functions
with installation
• Many functions are available in python
than the built-in functions. Using them
requires modules
Ex: import os, import math
EXPRESSIONS, STATEMENTS, FUNCTIONS,
METHODS
• Methods are similar to functions
• A method is a function that is closely coupled to
an object
• Methods are case sensitive
Ex: <object>.<method>(<arguments>)
>>> course = “Geographic Information
Systems Advanced”
>>> course.count(“i”)
2
CODING TIPS
• Python scripting is case sensitive
• Variable names should be all lowercase and
contain only characters, digits, and the
underscore (_)
• Indentation:
Use of four spaces is recommended to define
each indentation level
never mix tabs and spaces
• Comments:
Scripts should contain adequate commenting
esriuk.com
Each script tool or function should have a
header that contains script name, a description
of how the script works, its requirements, who
wrote it and when
PYTHON SYNTAX IN ARCGIS PRO
• Clip
Syntax: arcpy.analysis.Clip(in_features, clip_features, out_feature_class, {cluster_tolerance})
https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/tool-
reference/analysis/clip.htm
PYTHON BOOKS
PYTHON BOOKS
PYTHON BOOKS
