Support Empty Geometries [more simply] with ArcPy Geometry Class Constructors

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04-27-2015 04:01 PM
JoshuaBixby
MVP Esteemed Contributor

I have spent parts of the past few weeks working through the nuances of how ArcPy supports, or doesn't support, empty geometries.  I went ahead and created the suggestion on the ArcGIS Ideas site:  Support Empty Geometries with ArcPy Geometry Class Constructors.  I am working through submitting an enhancement request as well.  I will update this post with the number when the enhancement request gets finalized.

I would be remiss if I didn't point out that David Wynne​ pointed out over on the ArcGIS Ideas site how the ArcPy Geometry Class constructors currently support building empty geometries, i.e., arcpy.Polygon(arcpy.Array(None)).  I am thankful that David pointed it out because I had tried several similar ways that didn't work.  That said, I think the current implementation violates at least two of the Python Zen aphorisms, so I am going to advocate for something simpler, e.g., arcpy.Polygon().

UPDATE:  The enhancement request is ENH-000087299:  Although creating empty geometries is supported using ArcPy Geometry Classes, there is currently no documentation on creating empty geometries.  It isn't quite what I was going for, but the lack of documentation is the bigger issue at the moment.

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