How to expedite process of creating features

Question

I am creating TIN out of each two cross sections and in the end I merge them all together and create a seamless TIN using python scripting. First I create all the TIN and save them somewhere in my local hard drive and finally I merge them. Someone told me there should be a way to do this process in the memory to save time and them create the final TIN and copy that in my hard drive. I already use feature layer for cross sections to expedite the process. I was wondering if there is still any trick I can use to lower the process time?

Answer 1

You are looking for the in_memory workspace. Though the files are generally relased upon closure of the application, it's generally a good idea to remove it from memory by running Delete. If you are using this in a loop, you'll want to delete the temporary files before creating a new one with the same name. At any rate, it saves memory.

For example:

featureclass = r"d:\data\test.shapefile"

tempfc = arcpy.CopyFeatures_management(featureclass, "in_memory/<temp name>")

#code here......

#Delete if necessary to conserve memory and cleanup
if arcpy.Exists(tempfc):
    arcpy.Delete_management(tempfc)