This book introduces Python scripting for geographic information science (GIS) workflow optimization using ArcGIS. It builds essential programming skills for automating GIS analysis. Over 200 sample Python scripts and 175 classroom-tested exercises reinforce the learning objectives. Readers will learn to: • Write and run Python in the ArcGIS Python Window, the PythonWin IDE, and the PyScripter IDE • Work with Python syntax and data types • Call ArcToolbox tools, batch process GIS datasets, and manipulate map documents using the arcpy package • Read and modify proprietary and ASCII text GIS data • Parse HTML web pages and KML datasets • Create Web pages and fetch GIS data from Web sources. • Build user-interfaces with the native Python file dialog toolkit or the ArcGIS Script tools and PyToolboxes Python for ArcGIS is designed as a primary textbook for advanced-level students in GIS. Researchers, government specialists and professionals working in GIS will also find this book useful asa reference.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Beginning Python

Chapter 3: Basic Data Types: Numbers and Strings

Chapter 4: Basic Data Types: Lists and Tuples

Chapter 5: ArcGIS and Python

Chapter 6: Calling Tools with Arcpy

Chapter 7: Getting User Input

Chapter 8: Controlling Flow

Chapter 9: Decision-Making and Describing Data

Chapter 10: Repetition: Looping for Geo processing

Chapter 11: Batch Geo processing

Chapter 12: Additional Looping Functions

Chapter 13: Debugging

Chapter 14: Error Handling

Chapter 15: User-Defined Functions

Chapter 16: User-Defined Modules

Chapter 17: Reading and Writing with Cursors

Chapter 18: Dictionaries

Chapter 19: Reading and Writing Text Files

Chapter 20: Working with HTML and KML

Chapter 21: Classes

Chapter 22: User Interfaces for File and Folder Selection

Chapter 23: ArcGIS Python GUls

Chapter 24: Mapping Module

About the Author

Laura G. Tateosian is a professor at the Center for Geospatial Analytics at North Carolina State University. She earned her B.A. in Mathematics from Towson University, her M.S. in Mathematics from the University of Oklahoma, and her Ph.D. in computer science from North Carolina State University. She has more than 8 years of experience teaching Python programming for GIS and receives outstanding teaching evaluations. In 2014, she received an award for her teaching at North Carolina State University. Her research involves geospatial data analysis, aesthetic geovisualization, eye-tracking for map and visualization design, and automatic narrative mapping with Python and ArcGIS. Her research has published in refereed conferences and journals, such as, Information Visualization, International Journal for Uncertainty Quantification, Transactions in GIS, ACM Transactions on Graphics, IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, the proceedings of the International Symposium on Non-Photorealistic Animation and Rendering, the International Symposium on Applied Perception in Graphics and Visualization, and IEEE Computer Graphics & Applications (Visualization Viewpoints).