Add Geometry Attributes—Help | ArcGIS for Desktop

Summary
Usage
Syntax
Code sample
Environments
Licensing information

Summary

Adds new attribute fields to the input features representing the spatial or geometric characteristics and location of each feature, such as length or area and x-, y-, z-, and m-coordinates.

Usage

This tool presents an easy and efficient way to automate the task that can also be accomplished using the Calculate Geometry dialog box or the Calculate Field geoprocessing tool.

One or many attribute fields will be added to the input features depending on the options specified in the Geometry Properties parameter. If the fields already exist in the input features, the values in those fields will be overwritten. Use the following table to determine what fields will be added for each geometry property:

Geometry property	Added field(s)
AREA	POLY_AREA: The area of the polygon.
AREA_GEODESIC	AREA_GEO: The geodesic area of the polygon.
CENTROID	CENTROID_X: The x-coordinate of the centroid point. CENTROID_Y: The y-coordinate of the centroid point. CENTROID_Z: The z-coordinate of the centroid point. This field is only added if the input features are z-enabled. CENTROID_M: The m-coordinate of the centroid point. This field is only added if the input features are m-enabled.
CENTROID_INSIDE	INSIDE_X: The x-coordinate of a central point inside or on the input feature. INSIDE_Y: The y-coordinate of a central point inside or on the input feature. INSIDE_Z: The z-coordinate of a central point inside or on the input feature. This field is only added if the input features are z-enabled. INSIDE_M: The m-coordinate of a central point inside or on the input feature. This field is only added if the input features are m-enabled.
EXTENT	EXT_MIN_X: The minimum x-coordinate of the feature. EXT_MIN_Y: The minimum y-coordinate of the feature. EXT_MAX_X: The maximum x-coordinate of the feature. EXT_MAX_Y: The maximum y-coordinate of the feature.
LENGTH	LENGTH: The length of the line.
LENGTH_GEODESIC	LENGTH_GEO: The geodesic length of the line.
LENGTH_3D	LENGTH_3D: The 3D length of the line.
LINE_BEARING	BEARING: The start-to-end bearing of the line. Values range from 0 to 360, with 0 meaning north, 90 east, 180 south, 270 west, and so on.
LINE_START_MID_END	START_X: The x-coordinate of the first point of the line or polygon border. START_Y: The y-coordinate of the first point of the line or polygon border. START_Z: The z-coordinate of the first point of the line or polygon border. This field is only added if the input features are z-enabled. START_M: The m-coordinate of the first point of the line or polygon border. This field is only added if the input features are m-enabled. MID_X: The x-coordinate of the point halfway along the length of the line or polygon border. MID_Y: The y-coordinate of the point halfway along the length of the line or polygon border. MID_Z: The z-coordinate of the point halfway along the length of the line or polygon border. This field is only added if the input features are z-enabled. MID_M: The m-coordinate of the point halfway along the length of the line or polygon border. This field is only added if the input features are m-enabled. END_X: The x-coordinate of the last point of the line or polygon border. END_Y: The y-coordinate of the last point of the line or polygon border. END_Z: The z-coordinate of the last point of the line or polygon border. This field is only added if the input features are z-enabled. END_M: The m-coordinate of the last point of the line or polygon border. This field is only added if the input features are m-enabled.
PART_COUNT	PART_COUNT: The number of parts comprising the feature.
PERIMETER_LENGTH	PERIMETER: The length of the polygon perimeter or border.
PERIMETER_LENGTH_GEODESIC	PERIM_GEO: The geodesic length of the polygon perimeter or border.
POINT_COUNT	PNT_COUNT: The number of points comprising the feature.
POINT_X_Y_Z_M	POINT_X: The x-coordinate of the point. POINT_Y: The y-coordinate of the point. POINT_Z: The z-coordinate of the point. This field is only added if the input features are z-enabled. POINT_M: The m-coordinate of the point. This field is only added if the input features are m-enabled.

If a coordinate system is specified, the length and area calculations will be in the units of that coordinate system unless different units are selected in the Length Unit and Area Unit parameters.
The attribute fields added by this tool are just like any fields that you can add to a feature layer. You can overwrite the field values, or delete or rename the fields. The values in these fields are not automatically recalculated after edits. If you edit the features, you'll need to run this tool again to update the field values.
If the input features have a selection, only the selected features will have values calculated in the added fields; all other features will have null values.
This tool works with point, multipoint, polyline, polygon, and annotation feature classes. Annotation is treated as a polygon feature class.

Syntax

AddGeometryAttributes_management (Input_Features, Geometry_Properties, {Length_Unit}, {Area_Unit}, {Coordinate_System})

Parameter	Explanation	Data Type
Input_Features	New attribute fields will be added to the input features to store properties such as length, area, or x-, y-, z-, and m-coordinates.	Feature Layer
Geometry_Properties [Geometry_Properties,...]	Determines the geometry or shape properties that will be calculated into new attribute fields. AREA —Adds an attribute to store the area of each polygon feature. AREA_GEODESIC —Adds an attribute to store the geodesic area of each polygon feature. CENTROID —Adds attributes to store the centroid coordinates of each feature. CENTROID_INSIDE —Adds attributes to store the coordinates of a central point inside or on each feature. EXTENT —Adds attributes to store the extent coordinates of each feature. LENGTH —Adds an attribute to store the length of each line feature. LENGTH_GEODESIC —Adds an attribute to store the geodesic length of each line feature. LENGTH_3D —Adds an attribute to store the 3D length of each line feature. LINE_BEARING —Adds an attribute to store the start-to-end bearing of each line feature. Values range from 0 to 360, with 0 meaning north, 90 east, 180 south, 270 west, and so on. LINE_START_MID_END —Adds attributes to store the coordinates of the start, mid, and end points of each feature. PART_COUNT —Adds an attribute to store the number of parts comprising each feature. PERIMETER_LENGTH —Adds an attribute to store the length of the perimeter or border of each polygon feature. PERIMETER_LENGTH_GEODESIC —Adds an attribute to store the geodesic length of the perimeter or border of each polygon feature. POINT_COUNT —Adds an attribute to store the number of points or vertices comprising each feature. POINT_X_Y_Z_M —Adds attributes to store the x-, y-, z-, and m-coordinates of each point feature.	String
Length_Unit (Optional)	The unit in which to calculate length. FEET_US —Length in feet (United States) METERS —Length in meters KILOMETERS —Length in kilometers MILES_US —Length in miles (United States) NAUTICAL_MILES —Length in nautical miles (United States) YARDS —Length in yards (United States)	String
Area_Unit (Optional)	The unit in which to calculate area. ACRES —Area in acres HECTARES —Area in hectares SQUARE_MILES_US —Area in square miles (United States) SQUARE_KILOMETERS —Area in square kilometers SQUARE_METERS —Area in square meters SQUARE_FEET_US —Area in square feet (United States) SQUARE_YARDS —Area in square yards (United States) SQUARE_NAUTICAL_MILES —Area in square nautical miles (United States)	String
Coordinate_System (Optional)	The coordinate system in which the coordinates, length, and area will be calculated. The coordinate system of the input features is used by default.	Coordinate System

Code sample

AddGeometryAttributes example (Python window)

The following Python window script demonstrates how to use the AddGeometryAttributes tool.

import arcpy
arcpy.env.workspace = r"C:\data\City.gdb"
arcpy.AddGeometryAttributes_management("roads", "LENGTH;LINE_START_MID_END")

AddGeometryAttributes example (stand-alone script)

Get the extent rectangle of each line feature and build a 10 x 10 grid within that extent.

# Name: GridCreation.py

# import system modules
import arcpy

# Set environment settings
arcpy.env.workspace = r"C:\data\City.gdb"
arcpy.env.outputCoordinateSystem = arcpy.Describe("roads").spatialReference

# Set local variables
in_features = "roads"
properties = "EXTENT"
length_unit = ""
area_unit = ""
coordinate_system = ""

# Generate the extent coordinates using Add Geometry Properties tool
arcpy.AddGeometryAttributes_management(in_features, properties, length_unit,
                                                              area_unit,
                                                              coordinate_system)

# Use Search Cursor to walk through each feature and generate grids
with arcpy.da.SearchCursor(in_features, ["OID@", "EXT_MIN_X", "EXT_MIN_Y",
                                           "EXT_MAX_X", "EXT_MAX_Y"]) as sCur:
    for row in sCur:
        minX, minY, maxX, maxY = row[1], row[2], row[3], row[4]
        arcpy.CreateFishnet_management("fishnet_{0}".format(row[0]),
                    number_rows = 10,
                    number_columns = 10,
                    template = "{0} {1} {2} {3}".format(minX, maxX, minY, maxY),
                    origin_coord = "{0} {1}".format(minX, minY),
                    y_axis_coord = "{0} {1}".format(minX, maxY),
                    corner_coord = "{0} {1}".format(maxX, maxY),
                    geometry_type = "POLYGON",
                    labels = "NO_LABELS")

Environments

Licensing information

ArcGIS for Desktop Basic: Yes
ArcGIS for Desktop Standard: Yes
ArcGIS for Desktop Advanced: Yes