In Model Builder, does "Overwrite Geoprocessing operation products" apply?

SarahMcCabe

I am writing a Model in Model Builder where I iterate through a Feature Class of points to create a series of buffers, then the buffer clips a small section of a Digital Elevation Model to be used for the Points Solar radiation.  I want to sequentially create and discard the buffer, use Points Solar Radiation, and then go on to the next point and buffer it.

In my ArcMap project Geoprocessing options, I have "Overwrite the outputs of Geoprocessing operations" checked.  Sometimes when I run my model I get the error 00258 "Feature class already exists."    What can I do about this?

curtvprice

If you have add to display for this feature class turned on, disable it. That could help, though this fix hasn't always consistently worked for me.

One approach I have used to solve the issue is to run the Delete tool on the temporary dataset you want to overwrite, with a precondition connecting the output a tool (buffer, Clip) to the Delete.  The precondition forces the Delete to happen only after the intermediate dataset is not needed. 

If the buffer dataset is reasonably small, I would hard-code the path of this intermediate dataset to be in_memory, for example: in_memory\xbuf.