ArcGIS REST API - ArcGIS Services

A buffer is an area that covers a given distance from a point, line, or area feature.

Create Buffers

Buffers are typically used to create areas that can be further analyzed using other tools such as Aggregate Points. For example, ask the question, "What buildings are within one mile of the school?" The answer can be found by creating a one-mile buffer around the school and overlaying the buffer with the layer containing building footprints. The end result is a layer of those buildings within one mile of the school.

Request URL

http://<analysis url>/CreateBuffers/submitJob

Request parameters

Parameter

Description

inputLayer

(Required)

The point, line, or polygon features to be buffered.

Syntax: As described in Feature input, this parameter can be one of the following:

A URL to a feature service layer with an optional filter to select specific features
A URL to a big data catalog service layer with an optional filter to select specific features
A feature collection

REST web example:

{"url" : "https://myportal.domain.com/server/rest/services/Hosted/hurricaneTrack/FeatureServer/0", "filter": "Month = 'September'"}

REST scripting example:

"inputLayer" : {"url": "https://myportal.domain.com/server/rest/services/Hosted/hurricaneTrack/FeatureServer/0", "filter": "Month = 'September'"}

distance

(Required if field is not provided)

A double value used to buffer the input features. You must supply a value for either the distance or field parameter. You can only enter a single distance value. The units of the distance value are supplied by the distanceUnit parameter.

REST web example:4

REST scripting example: "distance" : 105.4

distanceUnit

(Required if distance is used)

The linear unit to be used with the value specified in distance.

The default is Meters.

REST web example: Kilometers

REST scripting example: "distanceUnit" : "Miles"

field

(Required if distance not provided)

A field on the inputLayer containing a buffer distance or a field expression.

REST web example:

= $feature["Setback"]
= $feature["Setback"] * 3 + $feature["TreeCoverage"]

REST scripting example:

"bufferField" : = "$feature["Setback"]
"bufferField" : "= $feature["Setback"] * 3 + $feature["TreeCoverage"]"

A buffer expression must begin with an equal sign (=). To learn more about buffer expressions see: Buffer Expressions

method

(Required)

The method used to apply the buffer with. There are two methods to choose from:

Planar—This method applies a Euclidean buffers and is appropriate for local analysis on projected data. This is the default.

Geodesic—This method is appropriate for large areas and any geographic coordinate system.

REST web example: Geodesic

REST scripting example: "method" : "Planar"

dissolveOption

Determines how output polygon attributes are processed.

Values: All | List| None


Value	Description
All— All features are dissolved into one feature.	You can calculate summary statistics and determine if you want multipart or single part features.
List— Features with the same value in the specified field will be dissolve together.	You can calculate summary statistics and determine if you want multipart or single part features.
None— No features are dissolved. This is the default.	There are no additional dissolve options.

REST web example: "List"

REST scripting example: "dissolveOption": "All"

dissolveFields

(Required if dissolveOption is List)

Specifies the fields to dissolve on. Multiple fields may be provided.

REST web examples:

Setback
Setback, Tree Coverage

REST scripting examples:

"dissolveFields": "Setback"
"dissolveFields": "Setback, Tree Coverage"

summaryFields

A list of field names and statistical summary types that you want to calculate for resulting polygons. Summary statistics are only available if dissolveOption = List or All. By default, all statistics are returned.

Syntax: [{"statisticType" : "<statistic type>", "onStatisticField" : "<field name>" }, ...]

fieldName is the name of the fields in the input point layer.

statisticType is one of the following for numeric fields:

Count—Totals the number of values of all the points in each polygon.
Sum—Adds the total value of all the points in each polygon.
Mean—Calculates the average of all the points in each polygon.
Min—Finds the smallest value of all the points in each polygon.
Max—Finds the largest value of all the points in each polygon.
Range—Finds the difference between the Min and Max values.
Stddev—Finds the standard deviation of all the points in each polygon.
Var—Finds the variance of all the points in each polygon.

statisticType is one of the following for string fields:

Count—Totals the number of strings for all the points in each polygon.
Any—Returns a sample string of a point in each polygon.

REST web examples:

[{"statisticType" : "Mean", "onStatisticField" : "Annual_Sales"},{"statisticType": "Sum", "onStatisticField": "Annual_Sales"}]
Only return count: []

REST scripting examples:

"summaryFields" : [{"statisticType" : "Mean", "onStatisticField" : "Annual_Sales"},{"statisticType": "Sum", "onStatisticField": "Annual_Sales"}]
Only return count: "summaryFields" : []

multipart

Determines if output features are multipart or single part. Default is single part. This option is only available if a dissolveOption is applied.

Values: true| false

REST web example: false

REST scripting example: "multipart": false

outputName

(Required)

The task will create a feature service of the results. You define the name of the service.

REST web example: myOutput

REST scripting example: "outputName" : "myOutput"

context

The context parameter contains additional settings that affect task execution. For this task, there are four settings:

Extent (extent)—A bounding box that defines the analysis area. Only those features that intersect the bounding box will be analyzed.
Processing spatial reference (processSR)—The features will be projected into this coordinate system for analysis.
Output spatial reference (outSR)—The features will be projected into this coordinate system after the analysis to be saved. The output spatial reference for the spatiotemporal big data store is always WGS84.
Data store (dataStore)—Results will be saved to the specified data store. The default is the spatiotemporal big data store.

Syntax:
{
"extent" : {extent},
"processSR" : {spatial reference},
"outSR" : {spatial reference},
"dataStore":{data store}
}

The response format. The default response format is html.

Values: html | json

Response

When you submit a request, the service assigns a unique job ID for the transaction.

Syntax:
{
"jobId": "<unique job identifier>",
"jobStatus": "<job status>"
}

After the initial request is submitted, you can use jobId to periodically check the status of the job and messages as described in Checking job status. Once the job has successfully completed, use jobId to retrieve the results. To track the status, you can make a request of the following form:

https://<analysis url>/CreateBuffers/jobs/<jobId>

Accessing results

When the status of the job request is esriJobSucceeded, you can access the results of the analysis by making a request of the following form:

http://<analysis url>/CreateBuffers/jobs/<jobId>/results/output?token=<your token>&f=json


Parameter	Description
output	output returns the buffered features as polygons. Is a summaryFields parameter is specified in the task request, the layer will compute the Count statistics, as well as anything in the summaryFields. These statistics are only calculated on the dissolved fields. Example: `{"url": "http://<analysis url>/CreateBuffers/jobs/<jobId>/results/output"}` The result has properties for parameter name, data type, and value. The contents of value depend on the outputName parameter provided in the initial request. The value contains the URL of the feature service layer. `{ "paramName":"output", "dataType":"GPRecordSet", "value":{"url":"<hosted featureservice layer url>"} }` See Feature output for more information about how the result layer is accessed.