why doesn't Tabulate Intersection work?

[SharonBenjamin]

I can't find much in forums about this - I'm trying to use Tabulate Intersection with two shapefiles.

When run in a model, I get a generic error (Error 999999:Error executing function). When run in a Python script, I get the following:

[INDENT]   Traceback (most recent call last): File "H:/Scripts/IntersectTable_test.py", line 18, in arcpy.TabulateIntersection_analysis (in_zone_features, {'distance'}, in_class_features, out_table, {'INFO'}, '','','') File "C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\Desktop10.1\arcpy\arcpy\analysis.py", line 1122, in TabulateIntersection raise e RuntimeError: Object: Error in executing tool
[/INDENT]
....which makes it difficult to diagnose problem. Anyone with experience/know what I'm missing? I'm working in Arc10.1 and have all license access. Thanks for your input!

[MelanieSummers]

Hi Sharon,

What type of data are you working with for your zones and classes?

Best,
Melanie S.

[SharonBenjamin]

I am dealing with two shapefiles as inputs:

1. The Zonal input is made up of multiple buffer ring 'donuts' that are at various distances around a point. They are identified by the distance they are from that point and the ID info from the point it was buffered around. Each donut feature has its own row in the feature class.

2. The Class input has several features ('classes' for the tool) identified by a name (string field).

[SharonBenjamin · Accepted solution]

The solution here was to add a '.dbf' extension to the output table file name. Huzzah. Thanks for all who reached out.

[aarielRocha]

I had been stumped by the same error.  Thanks for responding back with your solution (to add the .dbf extension to the table name).  It is these simple solutions that make these forums so important.  Please mark the problem as solved so that it is easier to find!
Aariel

[TalsanSchulzke]

I am still having problems with this tool, always getting an empty output. I have tried the Check Geometry and Repair Geometry tools as per a different post, and I've tried saving the output table in a file geodatabase, as a table, and as a DBF, but none of these solutions has worked. I have even tried projecting the data from NAD 27 to Web Mercator (using geographic transformation NAD27 to WGS84_3) thinking that maybe the tool was having trouble calculating the areas in degrees rather than meters, but still nothing.

I'm working with data for Canada, namely provinces (the zones) and eco regions (the input class). I've tried just about every combination of parameters I can think of, but I get an empty output table every time. Both features are polygon shapefiles.

I'm really stumped. Any help would be appreciated.

[LeonardLuz1]

Hi Talsan,

Are your shapefiles z or m-enabled? If one of them is and the other is not, perhaps that could be the problem.

-L