One of the Spatial Analyst tools we often use in ArcGIS is the Extract Values to Points tool. This allows us to take a point file (well locations in our case) and attach a value (elevations) from a raster image (a DEM) to each point. Today I was running it for the first time against an Image Service we recently published and I received a warning message,‘WARNING 000957: Skipping feature(s) because of NULL or EMPTY geometry’.

In migrating a toolbar consisting of a button and a couple of tools for use in ArcMap 10, I decided to take advantage of the ease of deployment enabled by add-ins which was introduced in 10.0. So far, I’m loving the functionality. One thing, however, that I have to figure out is that the controls are not instantiated until they are clicked on. One of the results is that the controls, by default, are enabled.

I have been loading existing raster data into a geodatabase to be included in a new Mosaic Dataset–a very cool and useful addition to ArcGIS 10. The most time-consuming part of the process for the human (at least this human) has been getting the names of the rasters right. Our existing data is organized by tiles with the directory name representing the tile name and then the data within each tile directory having the same name.

Whenever I want to skim through ESRI’s fonts to find some symbology I need for a specific purpose, I go through some laborious process to skim the fonts searching for an adequate symbol. However, in the ESRI Mapping Center blog post, user use2b311 post a link to a pre-made pdf showing ESRI Font Samples.pdf (application/pdf Object). Back when ESRI use to actually print hard-copy manuals, there were similar diagrams available but either I haven’t searched enough of they don’t exist in the digital help systems so I was happy to stumble upon this.

I’ve seen several posts like this one that reiterate that ESRI has announced that: ‘As of the end of January, ArcGIS Online basemaps published and hosted by Esri are now freely available to all users regardless of commercial, noncommercial, internal, or external use. This means that you no longer have to pay a subscription fee for including ArcGIS Online basemaps in your commercial-use web applications. Basemaps included in this new business model are World Imagery Map, World Street Map, World Topographic Map, USA Topographic Maps, and DeLorme World Basemap.

Updating some python code from 9.3 that using geoprocessing to 10.0 using arcpy and the first real object I’ve had to change relates to detecting whether or not an index exists on a table. I previously posted code using a 9.3 geoprocessing commands, the core of it being: indexList = gp.listindexes(tablename) for iIndex in indexList: if (iIndex.Name == indexname): return True return False With arcpy, ESRI has gone back to using the Describe methodology.

To better organize our ArcSDE data, we wanted to create multiple geodatabases and multiple ArcSDE services using one PostgreSQL database cluster (a cluster containing 1 machine at this point). A side question is why can’t tables and raster be placed in Feature Datasets? This wouldn’t be an end-all solution for what we want to do but there are some messy consequences of this limitation. ESRI has instructions on Setting up multiple geodatabases in one PostgreSQL database cluster on Windows which was helpful but we repeatedly got an ‘The ArcSDE Repository was unsuccessfully completed.

I was working my way through this ESRI Walkthrough: Building custom UI elements using add-ins (ArcObjects .NET 10 SDK). And came across a couple minor errors that I had to correct during the process. First, while implementing the OnClick() code for ZoomToLayer.vb, Visual Studio gave me a ‘Name ‘ArcMap’ is not declared.' error. In the walk-through, they mention that the ArcMap method of your class. For me, however, it appeared under the .

Ever since the ever-popular post, Zipping a shapefile using python, came out, people have been asking (one person, yesterday) for a sample of how to zip a file geodatabase using python. The key trick, as shown in line 17, is appending the basename of the file geodatabase (‘nfg.gdb/’ in my example) in front of each file as you write it to the zipfile. UPDATE: WordPress messes with the spacing when I post code, making it difficult to post code that can just be copied & pasted and have work.

In building our Enterprise GIS Database, we need to support users with different needs. Some of our users just need to see the data on a map while others may want to download a copy of the data so they can use it within their own desktop system. After doing some exploring, one of the options that looks like it will feel the bulk of our internal needs is to create a Map Service/Geodata Service pair–by creating a Map Service, we can make an easy-to-use visual representation of our data.