Performing Feature to Point (no advanced license) using ArcPy?

Question

I have a set of polygons I have calculated the centroids of, but am having trouble finding a way to output these values to a point shapefile. I dabbled with arcpy.MakeXYEvents_management, but it only creates a temporary layer file.

Answer 1

Here is an arcpy soloution:

import os, sys, arcpy

InFC = sys.argv[1]
OutFC = sys.argv[2]

#split the output into directory and name
Folder = os.path.dirname(OutFC)
Name   = os.path.basename(OutFC)

# Get the existins spatial reference as it's going to match
desc = arcpy.Describe(InFC)
SR   = desc.spatialReference

# create or append
if not arcpy.Exists(OutFC):
    arcpy.CreateFeatureclass_management(Folder,Name,"POINT",spatial_reference = SR)

# open up the 'writer'
with arcpy.da.InsertCursor(OutFC,"SHAPE@XY") as iCur:
    # open up the 'reader'
    with arcpy.da.SearchCursor(InFC,"SHAPE@") as sCur:
        # loop through each polygon in the InFC
        for sRow in sCur:
            cent = sRow[0].centroid          # get the centroid
            iCur.insertRow([(cent.X,cent.Y)])# write it to the new feature class

This creates a new feature class, opens an insert cursor, loops through each geometry in the InFC and writes the centroid property to the output.. note that multi-part geometries will not have a centroid per part but rather a single centroid for the whole geometry.. it's not much more difficult to loop through the parts - let's keep this example fairly simple though to show the basics.

Answer 2

This should do the trick:

import arcpy
import os

def polysToPoints(in_polys, out_points):
    """converts polygons to centroids

    in_polys -- input polygons
    out_points -- output points
    """
    ws, name = os.path.split(out_points)
    sr = arcpy.Describe(in_polys).spatialReference
    arcpy.management.CreateFeatureclass(ws, name, 'POINT', template=in_polys, spatial_reference=sr)

    # populate records
    fields = ['SHAPE@'] + [f.name for f in arcpy.ListFields(out_points) if f.type not in ('OID', 'Geometry')]
    with arcpy.da.InsertCursor(out_points, fields) as irows:
        with arcpy.da.SearchCursor(in_polys, fields) as rows:
            for r in rows:
                irows.insertRow((arcpy.PointGeometry(r[0].centroid),) + r[1:])
    return out_points

if __name__ == '__main__':

    polys = r'C:\path_to_your\polys.shp'
    points = r'C:\path_to_your\points.shp'
    polysToPoints(polys, points)

Answer 3

shapelib library is ideal for this task.
No depedecies, just a simple module to create shapefiles:

import shapefile

coord_list = ((20,40), (0,0), )

w = shapefile.Writer(shapefile.POINT)
w.field('ID_FIELD','C','40')
for id,(x,y) in enumerate(coord_list):
    w.record(ID_FIELD=id)
    w.point(x,y)
w.save("file\to\save")

it's very simple you might want to add the projection file afterwards (manually).

Check the manual on additional info

Answer 4

I'm still somewhat of a an arcpy beginner so perhaps this is not as sophisticated, but I created a script tool for this and it works for me. In your toolbox, add a new script tool. Make the python script below the source. Set the tools 1st parameter as feature layer input and the 2nd parameter as feature layer output (make sure you set it to an output parameter). Note, this tool will return points inside the input layer rather than the true centroid.

import arcpy
import os

inputFC = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(0)
outputPath = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(1)
scratchPath = arcpy.env.scratchGDB
inputFCSpatialReference = arcpy.Describe(inputFC).spatialReference

##copy to new fc in scratchGBD and make new layer
FCCopy = arcpy.CopyFeatures_management(inputFC,os.path.join(scratchPath,"FCCopy"))
FCLyr = arcpy.MakeFeatureLayer_management(FCCopy,"FCLyr")
arcpy.AddMessage("FC LAYER CREATED")

##add and calculate X and Y fields
arcpy.AddField_management(FCLyr,"Xcoor","DOUBLE")
arcpy.CalculateField_management(FCLyr,"Xcoor","!SHAPE!.centroid.X","PYTHON")
arcpy.AddField_management(FCLyr,"Ycoor","DOUBLE")
arcpy.CalculateField_management(FCLyr,"Ycoor","!SHAPE!.centroid.Y","PYTHON")
arcpy.AddMessage("X,Y FIELDS CREATED")

##create point layer from X Y fields
FCTable = arcpy.MakeTableView_management(FCLyr,"FCTable")
pointsLyr = arcpy.MakeXYEventLayer_management(FCTable,"Xcoor","Ycoor","pointsLyr",inputFCSpatialReference)
arcpy.AddMessage("TABLE LAYER CREATED")

##export points to feature class
arcpy.CopyFeatures_management(pointsLyr,outputPath)
arcpy.AddMessage("POINT LAYER CREATED")

##delete data from scratchGBD
arcpy.Delete_management(FCCopy)