[GIS] Converting text file with coordinates to database table in ArcGIS Desktop with Python

arcgis-desktoparcpyconvertdbfpython

How do I convert a text file with point coordinates to database tables in the dBase (*.dbf) format in Python?

I am using ArcGIS Desktop.

Best Answer

You can use Table to Table (Conversion) or Copy Rows (Data Management) here. Both of them have a very similar structure.

Usage of Table to Table:

This tool supports the following table formats as input:
    dBASE (.dbf)
    Comma Separate Value (.csv)
    tab delimited text (.txt)
    Microsoft Excel worksheets (.xls or .xlsx)
    INFO
    VPF
    OLE database
    personal, file, or SDE geodatabase
    in-memory table views

For file input (.csv or .txt), the first row of the input file is used as the field
names on the output table. Field names cannot contain spaces or special characters 
(such as $ or *), and you will receive an error if the first row of input file 
contains spaces or special characters.

Syntax

TableToTable_conversion (in_rows, out_path, out_name, {where_clause}, {field_mapping}, {config_keyword})

Example:

import arcpy
from arcpy import env
env.workspace = "C:/data"
arcpy.TableToTable_conversion("inputFile.txt", "C:/output/Dbase.dbf", "outputFile")

Related Solutions

[GIS] Is there Python 3 module to read .dbf files written by ArcGIS for Desktop

As all Python programmers, I will

first see the Python package Index for dbf files (it is specified if they are not compatible with Python 3 or Python 2). dbfread, for example, works with Python 2.x and Python 3.x.
a geospatial modules like GDAL/OGR can be used but it needs to be compiled (Linux, Mac OS X). For the Windows users, Christoph Gohlke provides the Unofficial Windows Binaries for Python Extension Packages with GDAL/OGR (Python 2.x and Python 3.x)
and a pure Python geospatial module like Pyshp (Python 2.x or 3.x) can also read dbf files
and finally, If you know the structure of a dbf file ( Data File Header Structure for the dBASE Version 7 Table File , for example), it is not complicated to program a reader in pure Python with the struct module

Python GeoJSON – How to Convert Text File Into GeoJSON Using Python

I think using geopandas is a more convenient way to create GeoJSON. Once you convert your txt to coordinates, you need to do some preliminary work. This is the process of handling str in pandas.

import pandas as pd
import geopandas as gpd
from shapely.geometry import Point

#handling txt
#remove 'lat=' and 'long=' then type change from object to float to make point.
df = pd.read_csv('path_your_txt', header=None, names = ['lat','long', 'name','description'])

df['lat'] = df['lat'].str.replace('lat=', '')
df['long'] = df['long'].str.replace('long=', '')

df['lat'] = df['lat'].astype(float)
df['long'] = df['long'].astype(float)

#make point geometry
df['geometry'] = df.apply(lambda row: Point(row['long'], row['lat']), axis=1) #long is X, lat is Y

#change df to gdf
gdf = gpd.GeoDataFrame(df, geometry = 'geometry', crs='EPSG:4326')  #epsg4326 is WGS84

Having created a gdf, you have now created a spatial data containing points and attribute data.

Now you only need one command to create GeoJSON.

gdf.to_file('path_and_filename.geojson', driver='GeoJSON')

As for grouping, what you need to do depends on the purpose of the grouping. If you just want to count, use groupby.

gdf.groupby('name').size()

If what you want is to create a line, you need a slightly different approach.

from shapely.geometry import LineString
gdf_line = gdf.groupby(['name', 'description'])['geometry'].apply(lambda x: LineString(x.tolist()))

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[GIS] Is there Python 3 module to read .dbf files written by ArcGIS for Desktop

Python GeoJSON – How to Convert Text File Into GeoJSON Using Python

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