GIS Programming: Geoprocessing with Python

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One of our tasks for this week's lab was to write a Python script using the Spyder IDE to execute the following geoprocessing objectives on the provided hospitals shapefile : 

  • Add XY Coordinates to the hospitals shapefile
  • Create a 1000 meter buffer around the hospital feature
  • Dissolve the hospital buffers into a separate, single feature

My thought process for completing these objectives is outlined in the following steps: 

  1. First, I imported the ArcyPy package, set the workspace environment to my Data folder within the Module 3 folder (S:/GISProgramming/Module3/Data), and enabled geoprocessing outputs to be overwritten.

  2. For adding the XY coordinates to the hospitals shapefile, I ran the AddXY_management() tool using the hospitals shapefile as the input parameter. I then used the GetMessages() function to print out the messages from this tool. 

  3. For adding the 1000 meter buffer around the hospitals, I ran the Buffer_analysis() tool using the hospitals shapefile as the input parameter, setting the output parameter to hosptials_buffer.shp, and setting the buffer distance to 1000 METERS. Just as with the previous tool, I used the GetMessages() function to print out the messages from buffer tool. 

  4. Lastly, for dissolving the hospital buffers into a single, separate feature, I ran the Dissolve_managment() tool using the hospitals_buffer shapefile as the input parameter and setting the output to hospitals_buffer_disolved.shp within my Module 3 Results folder. Again, I used the GetMessages() function to print out the messages from this tool.


Below is a screenshot of my results after successfully executing my script: 




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