Module 5 - Geoprocessing in ArcGIS

This week we used Model Builder to create a simple model, and then converted that model to Python script.

Model result - the removal of certain soils from within a basin.

The above screenshot shows the results of the model that was created for lab. Essentially the model process was to clip a soils layer to the extent of a basin layer, then to select a certain soil type from within the clipped area (specifically soils designated as 'Not prime farmland'), then to erase the selected soil type from clipped area. The results shown above is the clipped soil extent without the 'Not prime farmland' areas.

One could do all of these steps individually... or they could combine them into a series of tasks using Model Builder. Converting the model steps to Python was super easy... and I found that I understood the Python coding process a bit better as a result. By doing a few simple fixes the Python code was able to be run outside of GIS - so that will be super handy for the final project.