Performing Point Distance analysis using Basic level license of ArcGIS Desktop?

Question

I am using ArcView (ArcGIS Desktop Basic) 10.1 and I need to perform a point distance analysis.

What are the steps to determine the distance from A to B-Z, B to A-Z, C to A-Z, etc?

Answer 1

The following code is not polished but should work to create the same output table as the Point Distance tool but requires ArcGIS 10.1 (or later) for Desktop and only a Basic level license:

import arcpy,math

# Set variables for input point feature classes and output table
ptFC1 = "C:/temp/test.gdb/PointFC1"
ptFC2 = "C:/temp/test.gdb/PointFC2"
outGDB = "C:/temp/test.gdb"
outTableName = "outTable"
outTable = outGDB + "/" + outTableName

arcpy.env.overwriteOutput = True

# Create empty output table
arcpy.CreateTable_management(outGDB,outTableName)
arcpy.AddField_management(outTable,"INPUT_FID","LONG")
arcpy.AddField_management(outTable,"NEAR_FID","LONG")
arcpy.AddField_management(outTable,"DISTANCE","DOUBLE")

# Create and populate two dictionaries with X and Y coordinates for each
# OBJECTID in second feature class using a SearchCursor
ptFC2XCoordDict = {}
ptFC2YCoordDict = {}
with arcpy.da.SearchCursor(ptFC2,["OBJECTID","SHAPE@XY"]) as cursor:
    for row in cursor:
        ptFC2XCoordDict[row[0]] = row[1][0]
        ptFC2YCoordDict[row[0]] = row[1][1]

# Open an InsertCursor ready to have rows written for each pair of OBJECTIDs
iCursor = arcpy.da.InsertCursor(outTable,["INPUT_FID","NEAR_FID","DISTANCE"])
# Use a SearchCursor to read the rows (and X,Y coordinates) of the first
# feature class
with arcpy.da.SearchCursor(ptFC1,["OBJECTID","SHAPE@XY"]) as cursor:
    for row in cursor:
        x1 = row[1][0]
        y1 = row[1][1]
        for i in range(len(ptFC2XCoordDict)):
            x2 = ptFC2XCoordDict[i+1]
            y2 = ptFC2YCoordDict[i+1]
            # Prepare and insert the InsertCursor row
            iRow = [row[0],i+1,math.sqrt((x2-x1)*(x2-x1) + (y2-y1)*(y2-y1))]
            iCursor.insertRow(iRow)
del iCursor

print "Done!"

Answer 2

Using arcpy geometry objects is a good way to determine distances between features. Use data access cursors to access a feature's geometry and the method angleAndDistanceTo to determine distances.

From my blog:

import os
import arcpy

#inFeat is the path to your input feature class
#nearFeat is the path to your near feature class
#outTable is the path to the table that will be created by the function
def PointDistance (inFeat, nearFeat, outTable):
    #create table
    tabPath, tabName = os.path.split (outTable)
    arcpy.CreateTable_management (tabPath, tabName)
    #add fields
    fldDi = {"INPUT_FID" : "LONG",
             "NEAR_FID" : "LONG",
             "DISTANCE" : "DOUBLE"}
    for fld in ["INPUT_FID", "NEAR_FID", "DISTANCE"]:
        arcpy.AddField_management (outTable, fld, fldDi [fld])
    with arcpy.da.InsertCursor (outTable, ["INPUT_FID",
                                           "NEAR_FID",
                                           "DISTANCE"
                                           ]) as iCurs:
        with arcpy.da.SearchCursor (inFeat,
                                    ["OID@",
                                     "SHAPE@"
                                     ]) as inCurs:
            with arcpy.da.SearchCursor (nearFeat,
                                        ["OID@",
                                         "SHAPE@"]
                                        ) as nearCurs:
                for inOid, inGeom in inCurs:
                    for nearOid, nearGeom in nearCurs:
                        row = (inOid, nearOid,
                               inGeom.distanceTo (nearGeom))
                        iCurs.insertRow (row)