arcpy.NumpyToRaster fails with error two or three dimensional NumPy array is required

Question

The following code:

arcpy.AddMessage("shape of zOutput {} ".format(zOutput.shape))
arcpy.AddMessage("no of dimensions of zOutput {}".format(zOutput.ndim))
# Convert array to a geodatabase raster
myRaster = arcpy.NumPyArrayToRaster(zOutput, arcpy.Point(xmin,ymin), cellsize, cellsize, -999999)

produces the following output. As you can see the numpy array IS two dimensional. Yet NumPyArrayToRaster fails.

shape of zOutput (375, 524) 
no of dimensions of zOutput 2
...
ValueError: Argument in_array: A two or three dimensional NumPy array is required.

Is this a bug in NumPyToRaster?  Is there some other way to export a numpy array to a raster?

CharlesFried · Answer

It turns out that if the numpy array is masked, the NumpyToRaster fails with the misleading error message about the dimensions of the array.  So the solution is to fill the masked array before running the command.

DanPatterson_Retired · Answer

No it works fine import arcpy zOutput = np.random.randint(0, 10, size=(10,10)) # ---- some data zOutput # ---- a raster array([[6, 1, 6, 2, 4, 9, 7, 6, 5, 4], [5, 2, 4, 3, 0, 0, 0, 4, 7, 2], [5, 3, 6, 0, 5, 5, 7, 0, 4, 9], [1, 4, 6, 4, 8, 2, 8, 5, 3, 6], [2, 5, 0, 1, 8, 6, 8, 6, 6, 1], [9, 0, 2, 0, 9, 1, 2, 5, 3, 7], [2, 9, 5, 9, 0, 0, 6, 0, 0, 3], [7, 9, 8, 1, 6, 7, 3, 6, 7, 6], [0, 7, 4, 8, 5, 6, 4, 8, 1, 4], [4, 6, 7, 0, 9, 9, 3, 3, 6, 0]]) type(zOutput) # ---- the type, shape, whatever you need numpy.ndarray # ---- out it goes... then save it, preferably as a *.tif!!! myRaster = arcpy.NumPyArrayToRaster(zOutput, arcpy.Point(0.0,0.0), 1.0, 1.0, -999999) myRaster.save("c:/temp/a.tif") # ---- close the loop as a test back_in = arcpy.RasterToNumPyArray("c:/temp/a.tif") type(back_in) numpy.ndarray back_in array([[6, 1, 6, 2, 4, 9, 7, 6, 5, 4], [5, 2, 4, 3, 0, 0, 0, 4, 7, 2], [5, 3, 6, 0, 5, 5, 7, 0, 4, 9], [1, 4, 6, 4, 8, 2, 8, 5, 3, 6], [2, 5, 0, 1, 8, 6, 8, 6, 6, 1], [9, 0, 2, 0, 9, 1, 2, 5, 3, 7], [2, 9, 5, 9, 0, 0, 6, 0, 0, 3], [7, 9, 8, 1, 6, 7, 3, 6, 7, 6], [0, 7, 4, 8, 5, 6, 4, 8, 1, 4], [4, 6, 7, 0, 9, 9, 3, 3, 6, 0]]) ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍