I'm planning on implementing several geoprocessing python scripts that are scheduled to run nightly. The scripts will either output new feature classes, or update existing ones. The environment is an Oracle geodatabase.
I find with other database objects, it's helpful to be able to easily differentiate between object types, sources etc. in ArcCatalog (or other database software). Examples would be:
- Feature classes and non-spatial tables have different icons in the catalogue tree
- Specialized geodatabase objects have unique icons
- Views are suffixed with _VW (best practice)
- Versioned views are suffixed with _EVW
However, when it comes to scheduled geoprocessing outputs, I'm not aware of any way to differentiate them from regular feature classes at first glance. Sure, metadata is an option, but I'm looking for something a little more in-your-face than that.
Is there any sort of naming convention that is used for scheduled outputs? Maybe suffixing the table with a _GP (for geoprocessing) or _NT (for nightly task)?
For example:
I have read-only access to a non-spatial INCIDENTS
table from 3rd party software. The table has X
and Y
columns. I have a geoprocessing script (scheduled nightly task) that processes the table. It creates XY event layer
, does a spatial join
, and outputs minimum bounding geometry
. In other words, the output is a copy of the original data; the only difference is that it has been processed.
I'm looking for a way to identify geoprocessed copies of data, such as the example mentioned above. It would help us administrators easily keep track of which tables are master
tables, and which ones are copies
.
It could be something as simple as a _COPY
suffix. Or maybe there are established database best practices/conventions.