This two-day course introduces ArcGIS users to the capabilities and uses of scripts. Scripts are relatively easy-to-use programming languages and can combine the full capabilities of ArcGIS with the functionality of a scripting language. As a result, scripts have far greater functionality than models but have the expense of being more difficult to develop. The course will explore the use of Python to automate GIS tasks. Python is provided free with ArcGIS and is the scripting language supported by ESRI. The goal of the course is to provide students with the foundation and the resources necessary to develop proficiency with automating geoprocessing tasks with Python scripts.

Through a combination of brief classroom presentations and hands-on exercises, students will learn how to:

• Work with basic Python objects: numbers, strings, variables, lists, dictionaries
• Create the geoprocessor to provide the script with access to ArcGIS functionality
• Run ArcToolbox tools within Python
• Use loops to run iterative tasks
• Set script parameters to be specified at runtime
• Import a script into ArcGIS to be run out of ArcToolbox
• Export a model as a Python script
• Find documentation and tutorials for working with ArcGIS in Python