Summary
Converts a coverage into either a Vector Product Format (VPF) Coverage or VPF Tile.
Usage
The coverage must not have a mask file. Use the Clean tool to remove mask files.
The coverage must have a projection defined or it will not be converted. The coverage must not have a mask file. Only Clean coverages will export.
A full VPF pathname must be specified with Output VPF Coverage or Table.
Pathnames are specified as vpfDatabase\vpfLibrary\vpfCoverage when the Input Coverage or Table type is set to Coverage.
Pathnames are specified as vpfDatabase\vpfLibrary\vpfTable when the Input Coverage or Table type is set to Table.
If the vpfDatabase or the vpfLibrary directories do not exist; they will be created.
The Output VPF tile will be appended to vvpfDatabase\vpfLibrary\vpfCoverage\ specified by the Output VPF Coverage or Table and is only valid when the Input Coverage or Table type is set to Coverage.
Projections must match between the library and the coverage being created.
The VPF standard specifies only coverages in geographic coordinates. Using units of Decimal Degrees, on the WGS 1984 datum, you cannot clean a coverage that has units in Decimal Degrees. You should build the coverage in this case, or understand how cleaning will affect your coverage.
In the default translation of a coverage to a VPF coverage, arcs become edges, polygons become faces, and nodes remain nodes. Feature attribute tables become feature tables with a 1:1 relationship with primitive tables. One exception is the annotation TAT, which becomes one primitive table plus as many feature tables as there are annotation subclasses in the coverage. Route and Section tables become unconnected "extra" tables.
Other coverage tables are translated to VPF as extra tables, meaning that the tables are not needed to make up VPF coverages but should be maintained for the VPF to Coverage tool to translate all of the coverage information back. If there are no VPF tiles, the extra tables are located at the coverage level; otherwise, they are located at the tile level. Extra tables that may be generated by the tool are TIC, SEC, RAT, LNK, TRN, ADD, and ADDRESS.LST. The naming convention is X_TIC, X_SEC, X_RAT, and so on.
Syntax
arcpy.arc.VPFExport(in_cover, out_file, {tile_name}, {control_file}, {standard_table}, {index_table})
Parameter | Explanation | Data Type |
in_cover | The input coverage that will be converted to VPF format. | Coverage; INFO Table |
out_file | The name of the VPF coverage or table to be created. The full pathname must be specified. | Data Element |
tile_name (Optional) | The name of the VPF tile to be created. | String |
control_file (Optional) | A file that can be used to drop, add, change, or ignore items and other information during translation. The name of this file is defined by the user. Polycov.ccf, poly_cov_con, and conversionfile are all acceptable names. An input coverage defines feature translations for specified feature classes as well as specifies feature classes to be ignored. It can also be used to determine which values are to be filled in the database and library header files at creation. | File |
standard_table (Optional) | Specifies whether nonstandard ArcInfo Workstation tables will be converted.
| Boolean |
index_table (Optional) | Specifies whether to create a feature index table (FIT).
| Boolean |
Code sample
VPFExport example (stand-alone script)
The following stand-alone script demonstrates how to create a VPF coverage using coverage.
# Name: VPFExport_Example.py
# Description: Creates a VPF coverage from an ArcInfo coverage
# Requirements: ArcInfo Workstation
# Import system modules
import arcpy
from arcpy import env
# Set environment settings
env.workspace = "C:/data"
# Set local variables
inCover = "caligrat"
outFile = "C:/output/caligrat"
standardTable = "NO_EXTRA"
indexTable = "NO_FIT"
# Execute VPFExport
arcpy.VPFExport_arc (inCover, outFile, "" , "" , standardTable, indexTable)
VPFExport example 2 (stand-alone script)
The following stand-alone script demonstrates how to export two coverages to VPF and then create cross-tile topology for the VPF coverages.
# Name: VPFTile_Example.py
# Description: Exports two coverages to VPF format then builds tile topology
# Requirements: ArcInfo Workstation
# Import system modules
import arcpy
from arcpy import env
# Set environment settings
env.workspace = "C:/data"
# Set local variables
inCover1 = "coastb"
inCover2 = "coastc"
outFile1 = "C:/output/vpfdb/wlib/coast2"
outFile2 = "C:/output/vpfdb/wlib/coast3"
vpfLibrary = "C:/output/vpfdb"
vpfStandard = 96
specCover = "ALL"
# Execute VPFExport
arcpy.VPFExport_arc(inCover1, outFile1)
arcpy.VPFExport_arc(inCover2, outFile2)
# Execute VPFTile
arcpy.VPFTile_arc(vpfLibrary, "", vpfStandard, specCover)
Environments
Licensing information
- Basic: No
- Standard: No
- Advanced: Requires ArcInfo Workstation installed