BEST PYTHON IDE FOR ARCGIS SERIES

Python is great for system operations, data management, analysis and visualization.

BEST PYTHON IDE FOR ARCGIS SERIES

Especially Esri´s Python API combined with Jupyter Notebooks has been a great new tool that is much more than a series of preconfigured GIS tools and offers a great introduction to Esri´s concept of web GIS, whether that´s ArcGIS Online or Portal for ArcGIS. What is interesting though is that over the last six months, I´ve been starting using Python tools that surpass desktop GIS (and therefore the scripting/programming dichotomy). However, with regards to Python as a language, the distinction between scripting and programming may not always be very clear. And creating applications is what programming is all about. Using a buffer tool in arcpy doesn´t make you a programmer, but if you use such a tool inside a larger application script, this qualifies as writing an application instead of a script. Someone asked me if using preconfigured tools applied to GIS data made you a programmer.

My first article on Python for this blog was called “Python programming: a beginners guide”.

Python now transcends the scripting/programming dichotomy.

It certainly does not hurt to know some simple scripting or have application development skills. However, many geospatial jobs require you to build applications and/or master multiple programming languages. The answer is no: Python is not a replacement for a GIS, but an extension. I recently received an email from someone asking me about the possibilities of using Python for doing GIS and if it was really necessary to learn it. What does this mean? It means that you can do your work with one or multiple programming languages (or extend it if you prefer a GUI). Someone at the Esri DevSummit summed it up perfectly by saying that Esri has embraced multiple programming languages in one single workflow. Over the last six months, a broader adoption of programming languages in the GIS industry has taken place.

Programming languages in GIS are here to stay.

Best python ide for arcgis