Publishing and Using a Geoprocessing Model
New Functionality with ArcGIS Server
This tip was originally posted by Jeremy Bartley, a contributor to the ArcGIS Server Blog. Read
other tips and comments.
One of the exciting new aspects of ArcGIS
Server 9.2 is the ability to publish
geoprocessing models and scripts to the
server. A model can be published either as a
tool that can be used directly on top of any
map service or with an associated map
service so that you can control the
symbology of the generated layer.
The model takes in the water well dataset and a userdefined cell size and passes this information as input
parameters to the Natural Neighbors geoprocessing
tool. It generates a raster dataset as output.
To illustrate the power of geoprocessing on
the server, I built an example that uses a
map service and an embedded model that
allows users to execute an interpolation on
the server and view those results in the
Web mapping application. The map service
contains a point dataset describing the
potential water yield from water wells
drilled in Douglas County, Kansas (data
courtesy of the Kansas Geological Survey
and the Kansas Geospatial Community
Commons). The model takes in the water well dataset and a user-defined cell size. This information
is passed as input parameters to the Natural
Neighbors geoprocessing tool. The output
The map service used to demonstrate the model
is a raster dataset. The output is then
contains a point dataset describing the potential
rendered using a predefined layer
water yield from water wells drilled in Douglas
symbology file (or Layer file).
County, Kansas (data courtesy of the Kansas
If you looked closely, you may have
Geological Survey and the Kansas Geospatial
noticed that the model includes an
Community Commons). The output is symbolized
embedded Python script. This script allows based on a Layer file.
me to put a limit on the input cell size
parameter. I want to allow the user to set
the cell size (in meters) of the output raster
dataset from within the Web application.
However, I want to make sure that the user
does not enter so small a cell size that it
will negatively affect the speed of the Web
application. The script ensures that if the
user enters anything less than 30 meters,
the application will default to a cell size of
30 meters.
Here are some key steps to remember when
publishing a geoprocessing tool embedded
in a map service:
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Create a map document (MXD)
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with the input layer and any other background layers that you want in your map service.
Create a toolbox in your project directory.
Add a new model to your new toolbox.
The model should use one of the layers in the map document as an input parameter.
Ensure that your map document and input map layers are at the same projection.
Your output dataset should be written to the scratch workspace.
Set your toolbox scratch workspace environment variable equal to a directory that is visible
to your ArcGIS Server Object Container (SOC) account.
Move your finished model to your ArcMap table of contents. This is called a tool layer.
Execute the model from within ArcMap and verify the results.
Turn off the output layer in ArcMap and publish to the server.
The easiest way to publish a map service with an embedded geoprocessing service is to publish the
map document by right-clicking on the map document and choosing Publish to ArcGIS Server.
ArcGIS Server will see that the map service has a tool layer and will load that tool as a
geoprocessing service.
Once deployed to the server, it is relatively straightforward to deploy the map service and
associated geoprocessing task as a Web application using ArcGIS Server Manager. Check it out
here: http://serverx.esri.com/interpolationexample. Try building and publishing your own models.