Latest Contributions by ThomasDilts

‎11-21-2013

There are many instances when you are running one of the tools with multivalue inputs (merge, append, union) and you may not have the same number of input datasets each time. If you simply connect your (lets say 3) input datasets to merge but leave one of the inputs blank then merge won't run. You can get around this by connecting your inputs to the collect values tool and then passing those values on to merge. However, in order for this to work your downstream intermediate outputs need to be left blank. This means that each time you run your model in ModelBuilder that you would need to go in and set or unset the intermediate outputs. Ugh!! Furthermore, this precludes running your model as a tool. Double Ugh!! I propose that Esri re-design the collect values tool to honor empty values. This could even be implemented as an optional check box. This would allow for more flexible models.

‎10-14-2013

Hi all, I was wondering if there has been any progress on this issue or if anyone has heard whether Esri has plans to address this. From what I can gather these lock issue seem to be affecting nearly everyone who does editing or ModelBuilder in 10.x, and Esri hasn't made any plans to address this?????? This seems like a big enough and significant issue that pretty much affects every Esri user that should be addressed immediately. Has anyone come across another post or forum that has a potential solution? -Tom

‎06-20-2013

I just wanted to mention that my scripts are working again. Thanks so much for all of your help Stuart.

‎06-18-2013

Thanks Stuart, This helps a lot, and your explanation is very clear. I'm in the process of re-installing right now and will set the PATH and PYTHONHOME variables. I had installed the Enthought for python and had forgotten that I had it on my computer. Prior to uninstalling I had tried just changing the the PATH and PYTHONHOME variables, but that alone didn't end up doing the trick. If I'm understanding what you're saying correctly if I want to run 64bit python for scripts outside of ArcGIS I should simply be able to change the PATH and PYTHONHOME variables temporarily to point them to the 64 bit version? -Tom

‎06-17-2013

Stuart, where didn't work but the others did (see attachment). A while back I had installed the 64-bit python 2.7 for another program that ran on python, and I guess I was thinking that the ArcGIS uninstall would have gotten rid of it and installed the 32-bit version over it. Maybe the best solution would be to wipe python off my computer and re-install from scratch?? -Tom

‎06-17-2013

Hi Stuart, Thanks for your quick response. I can't seem to get your commands to work. I'm going to the command prompt, typing in "python" to get it to python, and then typing in "where python" I get the following error: File "<stdin>", line 1 where python SyntaxError: invalid syntax -Tom

‎06-14-2013

Hi, I'm able to run scripts as tools in ArcToolbox but I can't seem to run them from IDLE directly since upgrading to 10.1. Initially I had SP1 for background geoprocessing but have since rolled that back thinking that it might help. The same problem occurs. I get the following error in IDLE: Python 2.7.3 |EPD 7.3-2 (64-bit)| (default, Apr 12 2012, 15:20:16) [MSC v.1500 64 bit (AMD64)] on win32 Type "copyright", "credits" or "license()" for more information. >>> ================================ RESTART ================================ >>> Traceback (most recent call last): File "X:\for_tdilts\outbox\GIS_tools_scripts\ClimaticWaterDeficit\Version10_1\extras\DurCWD_normal.py", line 6, in <module> import arcpy File "C:\Program Files (x86)\ArcGIS\Desktop10.1\arcpy\arcpy\__init__.py", line 21, in <module> from arcpy.geoprocessing import gp File "C:\Program Files (x86)\ArcGIS\Desktop10.1\arcpy\arcpy\geoprocessing\__init__.py", line 14, in <module> from _base import * File "C:\Program Files (x86)\ArcGIS\Desktop10.1\arcpy\arcpy\geoprocessing\_base.py", line 14, in <module> import arcgisscripting ImportError: DLL load failed: %1 is not a valid Win32 application. >>> Is it that ArcGIS somehow is managing to point to 64 bit python but IDLE needs to be directed there? Is there some sort of document with instructions that I need to be following for "post-install" of ArcGIS Desktop??? -Tom

‎06-06-2013

I'm getting a traceback error when running OLS. According to http://downloads.esri.com/support/downloads/other_/189810.1_SP1_Announcement.pdf this was noted as a bug - NIM080983 - OLS (Ordinary Least Squares) returns a traceback when some of the data written to the coefficient table is NaN (not a number). Does anybody know if this has been addressed or will be addressed? I've got 10.1 SP1 and in the issues addressed document it doesn't list this bug fix anywhere http://downloads.esri.com/support/downloads/other_/ArcGIS101sp1-issues.htm . -Tom Dilts

‎03-12-2013

Currently flow accumulation in Spatial Analyst can only accomodate positive values - all negative values are treated as zero. I'd recommend creating an option (or a new tool) for flow accumulation for negative values (per http://forums.esri.com/Thread.asp?c=93&f=995&t=243378). Even better would be an option for accomodating flows of things like water that can start out positive but when they go negative they can't go less than zero. To my knowledge this hasn't been worked out by anyone in the ArcGIS community yet (see http://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/49462/how-can-i-get-weighted-flow-accumulation-to-deal-with-negative-values) but it would be a tremendous resource for people who model flows of water but deal with weightings having to do with precipitation and evapotranspiration.

‎01-21-2013

Amir, I've got a tool that will generate centerlines from a polygon : http://resources.arcgis.com/gallery/file/geoprocessing/details?entryID=EF0C96FF-1422-2418-7F9F-B0A8839FC796 It runs in ArcGIS 10.0 and isn't perfect (e.g. you lose some centerline near the ends of the polylines) but generally it works alright if you're willing to do some small follow-up editing. -Tom Dilts

‎01-10-2013

There are lots of ways to simulate floods and the method that you choose should depend on the spatial extent and resolution of your data, the question that you are trying to resolve, and the consequences (e.g. are people going to lose their homes due to a decision that you are making?). For fine scale flood modeling you should look into using HEC-geoRAS or some other hydraulic model that does a good job of modeling water "behavior". For larger scale problems I've used a methodology that basically involves detrending a DEM using local weighted averaging and then picking a threshold flood height value and reclassifying the raster into flood and non-flood categories. Some of the methodology is described here: www.esri.com/news/arcuser/0110/mapping-with-lidar.html and tools are available here: http://arcscripts.esri.com/details.asp?dbid=16792 With that in mind, you'll probably need to convert stage heights into some flood interval (people often use a 50 year flood for mapping riparian areas) and you'll probably need to use different stage heights for different parts of the catchment (stage height of a 50 year flood typically increases with accumulation area). I'm also making the assumption that you are trying to model the inundation area not some other property of flooding such as velocity, volume of water, etc. -Tom Dilts

‎11-26-2012

Since version 10 color ramps in the legend include annoying little tic lines (see http://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/41788/annoying-little-line-in-color-ramp-legends-how-do-i-remove-it#_=_ for a discussion on the issue). Esri should revert back to the way things were in 9.x when there weren't tic marks or give the user a checkbox to disable the little tic marks in the legend. The current solution involves converting to the legend to a graphic, ungrouping about 100 times, and then creating a gradient fill. This is ridiculously complicated for something that should be very simple.

‎09-19-2012

Got it. Thanks a bunch for your quick response.

‎09-19-2012

So multi-line is out in 10 except in the python window, but nested statements are in, right?

‎09-19-2012

I forgot to add that I get the following error: ERROR 000539: Parsing error <type 'exceptions.IndentationError'>: unexpected indent (line 😎 Failed to execute (RasterCalculator).

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Date Last Visited	‎05-19-2026 11:08 AM

My Ideas

Latest Contributions by ThomasDilts

Collect Values tool to honor empty inputs - merge/append/union with skip option

Re: workspace suddenly becomes read-only

Re: Can't run python stand-alone since upgrading to 10.1

Re: Can't run python stand-alone since upgrading to 10.1

Re: Can't run python stand-alone since upgrading to 10.1

Re: Can't run python stand-alone since upgrading to 10.1

Can't run python stand-alone since upgrading to 10.1

OLS error - NIM080983

flow accumulation that can accomodate negative values

Re: How to create river centerline and river bank from DEM

Re: Simulation of a flood event in a catchment

make color ramps easier to work with (like they were in 9.x)

Re: multi line statement raster calculator in 10.0???

Re: multi line statement raster calculator in 10.0???

Re: multi line statement raster calculator in 10.0???

Re: Align Rasters

AIC in ArcGIS Pro MaxEnt

Create a searchable website showing which updates ...

New toolbox in Spatial Analyst that transforms ent...

extract multivalues to polygons