ArcGIS
Understanding ArcPy Fundamentals ArcPy is a Python site package that provides access to ArcGIS Geoprocessing tools and functions. ArcPy enables Python programmers to automate geospatial analysis workflows and models using Esri software. Key capabilities of ArcPy include geodata manipulation, spatial analysis, data conversion and management, and map automation. The ArcPy module contains libraries for working…
The Problem with Default Numbering in ArcMap ArcMap’s default numbering tools, while useful, lack flexibility for more complex sorting needs. The standard numbering functionality relies on sorting records by a single field, typically a primary key or object ID field. This works well for basic sequencing, but fails to meet specialized requirements. For example, default…
The ArcMap graphical user interface provides intuitive tools for sorting and numbering features based on user-defined criteria. However, the in-memory processing and single-threaded execution impose limits on the size of datasets that can be efficiently manipulated. As feature class sizes grow into the millions of records, manual workflows become impractical. By leveraging Python and ArcPy,…
The Problem of Manual Numbering in ArcGIS Performing manual numbering of features in ArcGIS can be an extremely tedious and time-consuming process. For large datasets with hundreds of thousands or millions of features to number, the task of manually assigning numbers to each feature ID can be highly prone to human error and lacks efficiency….
Defining the Problem: Why Group Polygons? Geographic information systems (GIS) software allows users to store, display, and analyze spatial data. A common spatial data type is the polygon, which represents an area on a map such as a county, census tract, or land parcel. When analyzing a collection of polygons in GIS, it is often…
What is Real-Time GIS Analysis? Real-time geographic information system (GIS) analysis refers to the capability to immediately process and analyze streaming geospatial data to enable quick decision making. It combines real-time data feeds from sensors and devices with GIS analytics and modeling techniques to provide up-to-date situational awareness and insights. The key advantage of real-time…
The Problem of Assigning Ordered IDs in GIS A common task in GIS is to assign sequential integer identifiers (IDs) to features based on some attribute, ensuring the features are properly sorted before assigning the IDs. However, ArcMap lacks built-in tools to easily perform this operation. Manually ensuring features are sorted and then calculating sequential…
The Problem of Slow Performance with Big Data As geographic information systems (GIS) continue to grow in their use and applications, the size and complexity of spatial datasets have increased exponentially. This poses significant challenges when attempting to join large feature classes and tables in ArcGIS for conducting spatial analysis. When joining millions of records…
The Problem of Unoptimized Attribute Data As spatial data volumes continue to grow, organizations increasingly face performance and storage challenges with their ArcGIS geodatabases. A major pain point is unoptimized attribute data, which can strain database capacity and slow down essential workflows. When adding features to a geodatabase, attribute fields are configured to reserve adequate…
The Dangers of SQL Injection SQL injection attacks allow malicious users to execute arbitrary SQL commands on databases accessed by a web application. This can lead to data loss, corruption, unauthorized access to sensitive information, and other harmful outcomes. Geoprocessing scripts in ArcGIS that query or update enterprise geodatabases using SQL statements can be vulnerable…
