I'm trying to calculate the angle between two line segments in ArcMap 10.0. I have a point shapefile, so I'm using the xy coordinates of 3 successive points to calculate the angle. I'm trying to use Python in the Field Calculator, because I'm not good with Python and I'm not sure how to use the Python window. I finally got my code to work, but encountered an error when two successive points have the exact same coordinates. This creates a null value, and I get the error "The field is not nullable". I tried to put in an if statement to change nulls to 0s, but I still get the same error. I'm not sure if I'm identifying null values correctly, though, because I've found conflicting ways to represent them, and have tried "None" and ' ' and "Null" to no avail. It seems like there should be some way to just replace the angle value with 0 if the calculation returns a null value.
Does anyone have any ideas on how to get past the null values?
My code is below.
Record = 0
def turnangle(X3, Y3):
import math
global X1, Y1, X2, Y2, Record
if Record == 0: #first two rows aren't calculated
angle = 0
X1 = X3
Y1 = Y3
elif Record == 1:
angle = 0
X2 = X3
Y2 = Y3
else: #calculating angle
BAx = X1 - X2
BAy = Y1 - Y2
BCx = X3 - X2
BCy = Y3 - Y2
dotprod = BAx * BCx + BAy * BCy
lenA = math.sqrt((X1-X2)**2+(Y1-Y2)**2)
lenB = math.sqrt((X2-X3)**2+(Y2-Y3)**2)
angle = math.acos((dotprod)/(lenA*lenB))*180/math.pi
X1 = X2 #advancing to next coordinates
Y1 = Y2
X2 = X3
Y2 = Y3
Record = Record + 1
if angle is not None: #Here is where I'm trying to substitute 0 for null values
return angle
else:
return 0
Best Answer
This is a quick and easy way to get around the problem..but doesn't fix the error. This method works in the python window.
This design is often used inside of loops, and I'm unsure if the Field Calculator will accept it.