Counting number of grid cells in polygon using ArcGIS Desktop?

Question

Is there a way ArcGIS could count the number of 15 seconds interval grid cells within a polygon after digitizing that polygon?

This should appear in a field in the attribute table.

Answer 1

Yes - to do this I would:

• Use the extent of the polygon just digitized to Create [a] Fishnet of the same size
• Use SelectLayerByLocation on the fishnet just created to select those that overlap the polygon geometry that you digitized
• Use GetCount to count how many of the fishnet cells overlap with the polygon geometry
• Use an update cursor or CalculateField to write that number into the field

I would do the above using ArcPy (perhaps as a Python AddIn), but it should not be beyond ModelBuilder either.