Module 4: Geoprocessing

This module focused on the script design and implementation of geoprocessing tools in ArcGIS.

 I particularly enjoyed the portion dedicated to model building, and the interaction of a graphic interface with python script. I find it much more intuitive to construct a logical model. It's extremely useful to have the ability to export these diagrams into python script (even though they may require some tweaking afterwards.) The diagram we built used the clipping tool to select all soils in a shapefile denominated basin, creating a layer called Soils_Clip. Afterwards, the select tool was used to single out the attribute in soils for unusable farmland, making another layer called Soils_Clip_Select. Finally, we erased the unusable farmland from the map, crating a new map of the basin that highlights all soil in the basin except for the unusable farmland. the final map looks like this: 









Scripting wise, the class was instructed to add a coordinate system and 1000m buffer to a shapefile containing all the hospitals within the basin shapefile. I found it to be more intuitive to conduct the buffer tool first, because it was a two-step process to create a buffer and then dissolve the borders. After that it was very straightforward to add the coordinate system on top. 

The result of the tools printed as follows. 




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