Using python-tidegates as a python-toolbox in ArcGIS¶
Finding the toolbox¶
After you download or clone the source code (see install instructions), you can navigate to the source directory in ArcCatalog:
An ArcCatalog window after navigating to the source code of python-tidegates.
At this point you can double click either of the tools to use them.
An empty form for the toolbox titled 1 - Create flood scenarios.
An empty form for the toolbox titled 2 - Evaluate all standard scenarios.
Inputs to the toolboxes¶
Both toolboxes take several identical parameters: TBD
Common input parameters¶
The following are the parameters shared by both toolboxes. All parameters are required except where noted.
- Analysis Workspace (
workspace) This is the folder or geodatabase that contains all of the input for the analysis.
Note
All of the input for the analysis (see below) must be in this workspace.
TBD
Warning
Both toolboxes will overwrite any previous output if duplicate filenames are provided.
Examples of filled out forms¶
TBD
A completed form for the toolbox titled 1 - Propagate values to subcatchments. Note that some, but not all, of the optional input parameters are specified.
An completed form for the toolbox titled 2 - Accumulate values from subcatchments. Note that some, but not all, of the optional input parameters are specified.
If you encounter a MemoryError¶
By default, ArcGIS geoprocessing operations occur in the “foreground”. What this means is that the geoprocessing occurs within ArcMap or ArcCatalog, rather than in a separate computation process. The major implication of this are is those geoprocessing operations are limited to ArcGIS’s 32-bit version of python. Any 32-bit process is only able to access roughly 3 gigabytes of RAM (this various with other hardware in the machine).
In constrast, 64-bit applications have a theoretical maximum RAM limit of server million terabytes. In other words, about as much RAM as you have on a modern personal computer that happily runs ArcGIS. Recognizing this, Esri also provides a 64-bit python that can operate in the “background” (i.e., a separate process from ArcGIS).
This can be enabled from the Geoprocessing | Geoprocessing options menu in ArcGIS. Doing so may solve issues where the toolboxes fail due to an MemoryError (running out of RAM). However, some datasets are Just-Too-Big for ArcGIS or your computer and will continue to raise errors. In these cases, it’s best to split up the datasets – especially – the rasters into multiple layers.
Enabling background (64-bit) geoprocessing in ArcMap.
Other ways of using python-propagator¶
Since python-propagator is a python-based toolbox for ArcGIS, great care was taken to create the tool such that it could be called from python without opening ArcMap or ArcCatalog. Using the tools from a python intepreter is described in the next section.