I'm very new to AGO and have no background in python scripting. I need a script that downloads AGO data to be subsequently used for ArcGIS Desktop. Eventually I will need to automate this process. Can anyone help me out with this script? I'm also not really sure how this script would be implemented, so any pointers would be very useful!
Essentially I am working on a GIS application for the farm I work at that will be used to track pasture health throughout the cattle rotation lifecycle. Input by user will be location of fenceposts that comprise the corners of the current paddock, as well as paddock health details. I have made models using ArcMap that will convert these points into paddock polygons and then store the location and data in a relationship class to a fishnet. Right now I'm thinking that Collector might be the best method for collecting this data (please point me to something more appropriate if you know of it). However, I don't have a way to download this data from AGO to the desktop (manually or automatically) so that these models can be run. Also I don't know how to input existing data (fenceposts) into Collector rather than creating a new feature. In the end I need this all to be an automated process.
To use a feature service in Desktop geoprocessing, you need to add the feature service to ArcMap. Once the service is in ArcMap's table of contents (TOC), you can use any of the layers within the service in geoprocessing (tools, models, scripts, etc). You can use the Copy Features tool to download the data to a local database. The only caveat is that you need to be aware of the maximum number of features you can download. For feature services hosted on ArcGIS Online, this number is typically 1000. Here's a blog post that explains more: Consuming feature services with geoprocessing/. You need version 10.1 or higher to use feature services w/in geoprocessing.
