Need help to find out the best way to draw a line between points from different layers to show how the points have moved and save the line in a new layer.
Layer 1 - points that shows the positions hour 1.
Layer 2 - same points that shows the positions hour 2.
The points keep their ID in the attribute table.
Need a quick way to generate the lines as the data changes (eg. new layers are created)
Thanks!
Solved! Go to Solution.
This should work. The merged layer can just be intermediate data. Ex:
Hi Daniel,
Take a look at the Points to Line tool. This may provide the solution you're looking for.
The points are in different layers and the output should be a layer with lines (keeping the ID as an identifier for the line). I can´t see how to use two layers as inputs in Points to Line tool.
Can you merge the two layers together and then execute the tool using the ID field? You can easily create a model that could automate this procedure.
Prefer to keep the existing layers (shape files) and only get the "line file". If I merge the data I need to create an identifier that tells the "time".
I´ll give it a try.
Thanks Jake
This should work. The merged layer can just be intermediate data. Ex:
If you're dead set against creating an intermediate feature class, you can do so using Python:
>>> points1 = 'Layer1' # input layer 1 ... points2 = 'Layer2' # input layer 2 ... sr = arcpy.Describe(points1).spatialReference # CRS of layer 1 ... lines = [] # temp line list ... dict1 = {row[1]:row[0].centroid for row in arcpy.da.SearchCursor(points1,['SHAPE@','NAME'],spatial_reference=sr)} # load layer 1 to dictionary ... dict2 = {row[1]:row[0].centroid for row in arcpy.da.SearchCursor(points2,['SHAPE@','NAME'],spatial_reference=sr)} # load layer 2 to dictionary ... for k1,v1 in dict1.iteritems(): # loop dictionary 1 ... if k1 in dict2: # see if key exists in dictionary 2 ... new_line = arcpy.Polyline(arcpy.Array([v1,dict2[k1]]),sr) # create line ... lines.append(new_line) # add to line list ... arcpy.CopyFeatures_management(lines,r'in_memory\lines') # write lines to feature class
Thanks Jake and Darren.
I had some problems that I did not understand at first. Got out bounds and som errors. The - cause - Point ZM. Used ET Wizards to save the data as regular points insted and the problems were gone.
(could the point ZM to point be done in the model with a ArcGIS Basic licens?)
The Python script will have to wait - one step at a time.