PolygonToPoint

Polygons To Points

Converts a polygon dataset to a point dataset

A polygon feature layer
Conversion option
- Vertices - the vertices of all polygons will be converted to points.
- Labels - the Label point is always located inside the polygon. The algorithm makes sure that the point is not close to the boundary of the polygon. Points created using this algorithm are suitable for spatial transfer of attributes (See Smooth Polygons and Generalize Polygons functions).
- Centers - the Center points represent the centroid of a polygon. Therefore sometimes they might be located outside of the polygon
- Centers Inside - points representing the centroids of the polygons. If the centroid occurs outside of the polygon, the point is moved to be in the polygon.
More options
- Remove Duplicate Points - the duplicate points created from the vertices of two adjacent polygons will be represented by one point. Note that if this option is used the attempt to convert back these points to polygons will produce incorrect result
- Calculate point Position along boundaries
  - If used the [ET_Order] field will be populated with the relative location of the vertex (0 to 1) from the start of the polygon boundary.
  - If not used, the [ET_Order] field will be populated with the order of the vertex in the polygon ring (from 0 to number of vertices)
- Preserve Z(M) available only if the input feature class is of PolygonZ(M) type. If selected, the result will be of PointZ(M) type, otherwise the result will be of plain points (no Z or M values)

New point layer
- All the original attributes of the polygons are transferred to the point attribute table
- New fields are added to the point attribute table
  - [ET_Order] - the position of the point along the polygon's boundary. The value can be from 0 to 1 (if the Calculate point Position option is used) or from 0 to number of vertices (if not). The value of this attribute can be used if the polygons have to be recreated from these points. - only if "Vertices" conversion option is used

[ET_IDP] - the FID of original polygons. The values can be used to link the points back to the polygons.
[ET_IDR] - this is a unique number identifying each ring of the polygons. If a polygon with FID = 356 has 3 rings, the corresponding points will have values in this fields 356_0, 356_1 and 356_2. This field can be used to recreate the polygons from the points without loosing the rings. - only if "Vertices" conversion option is used
[ET_X] - the X coordinates of the resulting points
[ET_Y] - the Y coordinates of the resulting points
[ET_Z] - if the input feature class is of PolygonZ(M) type.
[ET_M] - if the input feature class is of PolygonZ(M) type.

Input Dataset

source polygons

Result Vertices option

Vertices

Result Labels option

Labels

Result Center option

Center

Result Center in option

Center In

Parameters

Expression	Explanation
Function Name	PolygonsToPoints
<input dataset>	A String representing the input layer. Must be of Polygon type.
<output dataset>	A String - the full name of the output layer.
<Option>	A String - the convertion option. Valid values. "Vertex" "Center" "Label" "CenterIn"
{Remove Duplicates}	A Boolean indicating whether the duplicate points are to be removed from the output. Used only for "Vertex" option.
{Calculate Position}	A Boolean indicating whether the position of the points along the polygon boundary to be calculated. Used only for "Vertex" option.
{Keep Z}	A Boolean indicating whether if the input has Z values to keep them in the output.
{Keep M}	A Boolean indicating whether if the input has M values to keep them in the output.

ETGWPath used in the table below is the full path to ETGWRun.exe (E.G. "C:\Program Files\ETSpatial Techniques\ETGeo Wizards\ETGWRun.exe")

Language	Syntax
Python	subprocess.call([ETGWPath, "PolygonsToPoints", "input dataset", "output dataset", "Option", "Remove Duplicates", "Calculate Position", "Keep Z", "Keep M"])
.NET using ETGWRun.exe	StartInfo.FileName = ETGWPath StartInfo.Arguments = "PolygonsToPoints" "input dataset" "output dataset" "Option" "Remove Duplicates" "Calculate Position" "Keep Z" "Keep M"
.NET using ETGWOutX.dll	PolygonsToPoints(input dataset, output dataset, Option, Remove Duplicates, Calculate Position, Keep Z, Keep M)
ArcPy	arcpy.PolygonsToPoints(input dataset, output dataset,"Option", "Remove Duplicates", "Calculate Position", "Keep Z", "Keep M")

Notes:

<> - required parameter
{} - optional parameter
See examples for Python , .NET or ArcPy
The argument separator for StartInfo.Arguments is space. If a string might contain a space, you need to double quote it.