"ERROR 000732: Input Features Does Not Exist Or Is Not Supported" when attempting MakeFeatureLayer

Question

I am trying to select features by location, but am running into a problem where the input feature class is not being recognized.

# Import module
import arcpy

# Define workspace and overwrite status
arcpy.env.workspace = r"C:\Users\benwj\OneDrive\Desktop\GEOG 485\Final_Project"
arcpy.env.overwriteOutput = True

targetCounties = ['Harlan', 'Bell']

minesFC = "Ky_Permitted_Mine_Boundaries"

groundWaterFC = "KY_WaterWells_Springs"

createdShapefiles = []

for targetCounty in targetCounties:
    
    countyQuery = "COUNTY_1 = '" + str(targetCounty.upper()) + "'"
    
    countyLayer = arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management(minesFC, "NEW_SELECTION", countyQuery)
    
    arcpy.CopyFeatures_management(countyLayer, str(targetCounty) + "_Co_Mines")
    
    createdShapefiles.append(str(targetCounty) + "_Co_Mines")
    
for createdShapefile in createdShapefiles:
    
    arcpy.MakeFeatureLayer_management(groundWaterFC, "groundWaterFeatureLayer")
    
    countyWaterLayer = arcpy.SelectLayerByLocation_management("groundWaterFeatureLayer", 'WITHIN_A_DISTANCE', createdShapefile, '800 Meters')
    
    arcpy.CopyFeatures_management(countyWaterLayer, str(targetCounty) + "Co_Mine_Groundwater")

When I run the script, I get the error "ERROR 000732: Input Features: Dataset KY_WaterWells_Springs does not exist or is not supported Failed to execute (MakeFeatureLayer)."

The input feature class name is copied directly from ArcGIS Pro and it indeed exists. What could be causing this error?

Answer 1

This is the relevant code to your error:

groundWaterFC = "KY_WaterWells_Springs"
arcpy.MakeFeatureLayer_management(groundWaterFC, "groundWaterFeatureLayer")

If you are inside ArcGIS Pro, and you have the KY_WaterWells_Springs in your map (thus in your Contents pane), and run this code from the Python window, it'll work great.

As you've presented the script, it appears you're running this code OUTSIDE ArcGIS Pro, probably from command line. In this case, you do not have a Contents pane, you do not have a layer loaded. You need to update the path of your groundWaterFC to point at the actual data set on disk, so the Make Feature Layer can find and load the featureclass, thus turning it into a "Layer". Since you already have: arcpy.env.workspace = r"C:\Users\benwj\OneDrive\Desktop\GEOG 485\Final_Project"

Assuming you have a file geodatabase in this directory, with your data, you could do something like this:

import os
arcpy.env.workspace = r"C:\Users\benwj\OneDrive\Desktop\GEOG 485\Final_Project"
#this is now a full path to your dataset
groundWaterFC = os.path.join(arcpy.env.workspace, "myGDB.gdb", "KY_WaterWells_Springs") 
arcpy.MakeFeatureLayer_management(groundWaterFC, "groundWaterFeatureLayer")

Answer 2

I worked around the issue by converting the groundwater feature class to a shapefile, which then allowed me to make the feature layer.