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I have a shapefile of multiple points (upwards of 100). I would like to generate a new shapefile with points that are a specified distance and direction away from the previous points. For example, each point has a unique distance and angle/bearing associated with it. I have read into the create features and using the distance/direction tool. However, this is very tedious as I have many points, and will continue to. I have also found the "Bearing Distance to Line" tool and I believe this does exactly what I want it to. however, it generates a line, and not a point.

Is there a way to do it that makes a line, or a way to make new shapefile with only points at the end of each line?

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  • An indirect way (hopefully someone has a better idea): Use Bearing Distance to Line. Add the line endpoint coordinates to the attribute table (field calculator), Export/save as the attribute table to Excel or text or... and use that to create a new feature class. – mkennedy Aug 4 '17 at 18:10
  • This really is a trivial task for Python, and learning that little bit of Python wouldn't take more than a few hours (20 minutes, if you can find a sample that copies from one table to another). – Vince Aug 5 '17 at 11:51
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There are a few ways to do this using arcpy and numpy (getting the new points is basically a trig problem which is where numpy comes in handy); however, unless you're decently familiar with python already, that would probably take too long to be worth it for that number of points. Therefore, I will suggest a more jury-rigged approach that should work. If you can use the Bearing Distance to Line tool to get a line with the end point you want, then you can use the Feature Vertices to Points tool and select out the points you want and export them to a new feature class.

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