Generate Blind Spot Areas (Intelligence)

Summary

Creates an output nonvisible area, or blind spot, for input Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance (ISR) or patrol visible buffer features based on start and end times. The output blind spot layer is used with the time slider to visualize and explore areas that are not visible to ISR or patrol assets at specified times. For example, the output can show areas that a guard is not able to observe for given input time periods at posts along a patrol route.

Usage

• You can use the Generate Coverage Areas tool to create an input layer for this tool.

• The Output Features parameter value will have the following output fields:

  • Start Time—Date time value when the asset turns on or begins coverage
  • End Time—Date time value when the asset turns off or ends coverage
  • Percent Visible—Percentage of the Clip Features parameter value that is covered by the asset
  • Percent Blind—Percentage of the Clip Features parameter value that is not covered by the asset, also known as the blind spot

• The Output Features parameter value may contain missing areas that overlap for time stamps that are equal. For example, if an asset is active from 2:00:00 PM until 3:00:00 PM and the next asset is active from 3:00:00 PM to 4:00:00 PM, both assets are considered active for the instant at 3:00:00 PM. In this case, it would be best to offset the overlap by ending the first asset at 3:00:00 PM and starting the second asset at 3:00:01 PM, an offset of 1 second.

• The Output Features parameter value will be in a projected coordinate system to match the current active map, or in the UTM zone of the centroid of the Input Features parameter value.

• The Output Features parameter includes a .lyrx file in the parent folder of the features. The file includes transparent symbology and time-enabled properties that add functionality to the output features.

Parameters

Dialog

Label	Explanation	Data Type
Input Features	The input visible buffer features.	Feature Layer
Output Features	The output blind spot area features.	Feature Class
Clip Features (Optional)	The features used to define the input boundary.	Feature Set
Start Time Field (Optional)	The field containing the start date and time when the asset is available.	Field
End Time Field (Optional)	The field containing the end date and time when the asset is no longer available.	Field

Python

arcpy.intelligence.GenerateBlindSpotAreas(in_features, out_feature_class, {clip_features}, {start_time_field}, {end_time_field})

Name	Explanation	Data Type
in_features	The input visible buffer features.	Feature Layer
out_feature_class	The output blind spot area features.	Feature Class
clip_features (Optional)	The features used to define the input boundary.	Feature Set
start_time_field (Optional)	The field containing the start date and time when the asset is available.	Field
end_time_field (Optional)	The field containing the end date and time when the asset is no longer available.	Field

Code sample

GenerateBlindSpotAreas example (Python window)

The following Python script demonstrates how to use the GenerateBlindSpotAreas function in immediate mode.

import arcpy
arcpy.intelligence.GenerateBlindSpotAreas("bs_buffer2", "mtyBS001", "mask", 
                                          "time_start", "time_end")

Environments

This tool does not use any geoprocessing environments.