How can I calculate the center point inside a polygon in ArcGIS 9.3?

Question

I'm using the JavaScript API 1.6 on ArcGIS 9.3. I have a polygon geometry in an ArcGIS map, and I'm trying to find a way to get the point that lies in the exact center of the geometry. What is the best way to do this?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Each instance of geometry (esri.geometry.Geometry) has a method called getExtent() which returns the extent of the geometry (polygon in your example). esri.geometry.Extent has a method called getCenter() that returns a point.

So you could do something like:

var myPolygonCenterLatLon = myPolygon.getExtent().getCenter();

You could alternatively calculate the centroids to polygons beforehand in ArcMap. Then host the layer which has a one-to-one relationship with the polygons.

Answer 2

You could set up a model in Model Builder to use the Feature to Point tool (in ArcToolbox), export the script (JScript), and call it in your code.

Answer 3

This an updated version (2.2 Javascript API)

This example finds the centre point of the polygon to label the coordinates

http://help.arcgis.com/en/webapi/javascript/arcgis/demos/util/util_label_point.html

This uses the Geometry Service http://webhelp.esri.com/arcgisserver/9.3/dotNet/index.htm#geometry_service.htm