ArcGIS Desktop – How to Convert Coverage Files into Shapefiles

arcgis-desktoparcpyesri-coverage-formatshapefile

I am attempting to convert coverage files into shapefiles using arcpy. This is not the e00 files, but the bin files. ArcGIS help suggests that it can be done using FeatureClassToFeatureClass_conversion, but I am getting an error saying "parcels does not exist or not supported".

fileName = 'C:\\May_2014_Parcels' + "\\" + filename + "\\" + subfilename + "\\parcels"
                   arcpy.FeatureClassToFeatureClass_conversion(fileName,  

r'C:\May_2014_Parcels\Output\parcels.gdb', filename + "_" + subfilename)

How do I actually get the featureclass out of the coverage file so I can perform this task?

Best Answer

Coverages are like TAB and CAD files in that they can have multiple feature types. For example, a polygon coverage has polygons, lines, nodes, points (labels) and optionally tics.

'C:\\May_2014_Parcels' + "\\" + filename + "\\" + subfilename + "\\parcels\\polygon"

should do the trick for accessing the polygon records, likewise if you want just the lines then:

'C:\\May_2014_Parcels' + "\\" + filename + "\\" + subfilename + "\\parcels\\arc"

would do it. Note arc feature type is a polyline, not actually an arc!

note do not copy coverages with windows explorer unless you are copying the whole workspace, doing so will render them utterly useless. If you cannot 'see' inside the coverages in ArcCatalog like this:

Inside a coverage

then it is already broken!

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[GIS] Looping through multiple feature datasets and Intersect Files

You are correct. You need to reset your workspace again at the end of your nested for loop (CCH in cchList). Try this:

#Re-set workspace to look for matching ID with an '_CCH' in the CCH dataset
    arcpy.env.workspace = CCHws
    cchList = arcpy.ListFeatureClasses(NBname2)
    for cch in cchList:
        if len(cchList) > 0:
           arcpy.Intersect_analysis([NBfile,CCH],opresult)  
        else:
            print NBname + " Does not have a matching CCH"
    arcpy.env.workspace = PerMap

You also only need to specify the arcpy.env.overwriteOutput = True once at the top of the script like you have so I removed the second reference to it in your nested for loop. Hope this helps.

[GIS] Batch convert dgn files to separate shapefiles in ArcGIS

Using python/arcpy you may use os.walk to iterate through a directory where you have many .dgn files and use Feature Class to Feature Class method to export the point, polyline, polygon...etc layers to shapefiles.

Best Answer

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[GIS] Looping through multiple feature datasets and Intersect Files

[GIS] Batch convert dgn files to separate shapefiles in ArcGIS

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