Generate Coverage Areas (Intelligence)

Summary

Creates a proximity buffer for input Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) or patrol assets for use in the Generate Blind Spot Areas tool.

The output should be considered the areas that are being observed by the assets for the given input locations for the specified time periods. For example, the output can represent the areas visible to a guard as they move from post to post for given time periods at each post.

Usage

• If you have several input asset data sets, run this tool once for each data set. Use the Merge tool to combine output layers into a single data set for use in the Generate Blind Spot Areas tool.

• Negative buffer distances may cause unintended outputs. It is recommended that you use only buffer distances greater than zero.

• The tool requires time ranges to be used, not single-time instances. Both or neither the Start Time Field and End Time Field parameters must be set.

• The tool adds time_start and time_end fields to the Output Blind Spot Buffer parameter value. These fields are only added if the Start Time Field and End Time Field parameters are specified.

Parameters

Dialog

Label	Explanation	Data Type
Input Features	The input asset features.	Feature Layer
Output Blind Spot Buffer	The output blind spot buffer features.	Feature Class
Buffer Type	The distance around the input features that will be buffered. Distances can be provided as either a linear distance or a field from the Input Features parameter value that defines the individual ranges and units to buffer each feature.	Linear Unit; Field
Range Unit (Optional)	Specifies the linear unit that will be used when the chosen Buffer Type parameter value does not contain the unit of distance. Meters—The distance unit will be meters. Kilometers—The distance unit will be kilometers. Feet—The distance unit will be feet. Miles—The distance unit will be miles. Nautical Miles—The distance unit will be nautical miles.	String
Start Time Field (Optional)	The field containing the start date and time the asset is available.	Field
End Time Field (Optional)	The field containing the end date and time the asset is no longer available.	Field

Python

arcpy.intelligence.GenerateCoverageAreas(in_features, out_feature_class, buffer_type, {range_unit}, {start_time_field}, {end_time_field})

Name	Explanation	Data Type
in_features	The input asset features.	Feature Layer
out_feature_class	The output blind spot buffer features.	Feature Class
buffer_type	The distance around the input features that will be buffered. Distances can be provided as either a linear distance or a field from the in_features parameter value that defines the individual ranges and units to buffer each feature.	Linear Unit; Field
range_unit (Optional)	Specifies the linear unit that will be used when the chosen buffer_type parameter value does not contain the unit of distance. Meters—The distance unit will be meters. Kilometers—The distance unit will be kilometers. Feet—The distance unit will be feet. Miles—The distance unit will be miles. NauticalMiles—The distance unit will be nautical miles.	String
start_time_field (Optional)	The field containing the start date and time the asset is available.	Field
end_time_field None (Optional)	The field containing the end date and time the asset is no longer available.	Field

Code sample

GenerateCoverageAreas example (stand-alone script)

The following script shows how to use the GenerateCoverageAreas function.

import os
import arcpy

arcpy.env.workspace = r"c:\ws\texas.gdb"
asset_fcs = ["td_towers", "td_localpd", "td_flt01"]
to_merge = []
out_merged = os.path.join(arcpy.env.workspace, "td_combined_buffers")
buffer_field = "vis_range"
start_field = "starttime"
end_field = "endtime"

for fc in asset_fcs:
   in_fc = os.path.join(arcpy.env.workspace, fc)
   out_fc = os.path.join(arcpy.env.workspace, "{}_b".format(fc))
   arcpy.intelligence.GenerateCoverageAreas(in_fc, out_fc, buffer_field, "", 
                                       start_field, end_field)
   to_merge.append(outfc)

arcpy.Merge_management(to_merge, out_merged)

Environments

This tool does not use any geoprocessing environments.