Creating shapefile from lat/long values using ArcPy?
For creating points:
ptList =[[20.000,43.000],[25.500, 45.085],[26.574, 46.025], [28.131, 48.124]]
pt = arcpy.Point()
ptGeoms = []
for p in ptList:
pt.X = p[0]
pt.Y = p[1]
ptGeoms.append(arcpy.PointGeometry(pt))
arcpy.CopyFeatures_management(ptGeoms, r"C:\Temp\test.shp")
It will return a message like this:
<Result 'C:\\Temp\\test.shp'>
You can create a shapefile in Python using the Create Feature Class tool. There is an example at the bottom of the page.
To populate the shapefile with your lat & long data, you can use an Insert Cursor.
Perhaps you can load your lat & long data as a list into Python, then iterate through the array populating the rows of your new shapefile with the insert cursor.
A python list of coordinates can be constructed like this:
latLonList = [[40.000,-75.000],[39.998,-75.432],[39.981,-75.343]]
Then to iterate through coordinates in the list (and print them, for example), do this:
for coord in latLonList:
print "lat: " + str(coord[0])
print "lon: " + str(coord[1])
To add a layer to an mxd file, see Adding shapefile or feature class as layer in ArcGIS Desktop using Python/ArcPy?
Another option would be to just use the existing arcpy geoprocessing tools, see code below.
# Import arcpy module
import arcpy
# Local variables:
table_dbf = "C:\\temp\\table.dbf"
table_Layer2 = "table_Layer2"
point3_shp = "C:\\temp\\point3.shp"
# Process: Make XY Event Layer
arcpy.MakeXYEventLayer_management(table_dbf, "x_coord", "y_coord", table_Layer2, "", "")
# Process: Copy Features
arcpy.CopyFeatures_management(table_Layer2, point3_shp, "", "0", "0", "0")
mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument(r"C:\temp\Untitled.mxd")
df = arcpy.mapping.ListDataFrames(mxd, "Layers")[0]
addLayer = arcpy.mapping.Layer(point3_shp)
arcpy.mapping.AddLayer(df, addLayer, "BOTTOM")
mxd.saveACopy(r"C:\temp\Untitled1.mxd")