Trying to build a model to get all layers(same name, different folders and different geodatabase) into one

Question

I have over 3000 folders, each folders have a geodatabase and each geodatabase consist of a layer name called "lot".

I want to merge the all the "lot" layers into one layer shapefile, my gis knowledge is very limited and would like to ask some insights or tools i can use in this situation? I am thinking of these tools, and thinking how to plug each tool inside modelbuilder :

Iterate Feature classes (find the name of "lot")?,Parse path,Rename

Answer 1

This is probably a good place to start learning python. Here is a little script that will do what you want:

import os, sys, arcpy

BaseFolder = r'c:\your\folder' # change this to match your 'top level' folder

ListOfLotsToMerge = [] # an empty list

# walk the folders and databases from basefolder down
# but only polygon feature classes
for Path, Folders, FeatureClasses in arcpy.da.Walk(BaseFolder,datatype='FeatureClass',type='Polygon'):
    for ThisFC in FeatureClasses:
        if ThisFC.lower() == 'lot': # does this feature class have the right name?
            # add the full path to this feature class to the list
            ListOfLotsToMerge.append(os.path.join(Path,ThisFC))

# merge them all into a single shapefile called AllTheLots in your base folder 
arcpy.Merge_management(ListOfLotsToMerge,os.path.join(BaseFolder,'AllTheLots.shp'))

Copy and paste into notepad, save with an extension of .py and then add it to a toolbox.

If you want to be able to specify the input base folder and output shape only a few small changes are needed:

import os, sys, arcpy

BaseFolder   = sys.argv[1]
OutShapefile = sys.argv[2]

ListOfLotsToMerge = [] # an empty list

# walk the folders and databases from basefolder down
# but only polygon feature classes
for Path, Folders, FeatureClasses in arcpy.da.Walk(BaseFolder,datatype='FeatureClass',type='Polygon'):
    for ThisFC in FeatureClasses:
        if ThisFC.lower() == 'lot': # does this feature class have the right name?
            # add the full path to this feature class to the list
            ListOfLotsToMerge.append(os.path.join(Path,ThisFC))

# merge them all into a single shapefile called AllTheLots in your base folder 
arcpy.Merge_management(ListOfLotsToMerge,OutShapefile)

When adding this script tool it needs two parameters, the first is a folder type the second is a feature class (or shapefile) type.