Geoprocessing services

Geoprocessing is a fundamental part of enterprise GIS operations. Geoprocessing provides the data analysis, data management, and data conversion tools necessary for all GIS users.

A geoprocessing service represents a collection of published tools that perform tasks necessary for manipulating and analyzing geographic information across a wide range of disciplines. Each tool performs one or more operations, such as projecting a dataset from one map projection to another, adding fields to a table, or creating buffer zones around features. A tool accepts inputs (such as feature sets, tables, property values), executes operations against the input data, and generates output for presentation in a map or further processing by the client. Tools can be executed synchronously or asynchronously.

Use a geoprocessing service to:

• List available tools and their input/output properties
• Execute a tool synchronously
• Submit a job and execute a tool asynchronously
• Return messages on the status of a job
• Cancel a job
• Display results using a map service
• Retrieve results for further processing on the client

Many uses of GIS involve the repetition of work, and this creates the need for a framework to provide automation of workflows. Geoprocessing services answer this need by providing a mechanism to combine a series of operations in a sequence using a model and exposing the model as a tool. Inputs and outputs to geoprocessing services consist of strong types deriving from GPValue. Here is a list of valid types:

GPValue Type	Description
GPBoolean	Stores boolean values.
GPDataFile	Stores data file contents.
GPDate	Stores date values.
GPDouble	Stores double values.
GPFeatureRecordSetLayer	Stores record sets that contain features.
GPLinearUnit	Stores linear unit definitions.
GPLong	Stores long values.
GPMultiValue	Stores multiple geoprocessing value objects.
GPRasterData	Stores raster data contents of a defined format.
GPRasterDataLayer	Stores raster data contents to display in a map.
GPRecordSet	Stores tabular data.
GPString	Stores string values.

These types assist you when in just about every aspect to server tool usage via a geoprocessing service. They are used to describe inputs to a server tool, such as the type of parameters returned from a call to GetToolInfo or GetToolInfos. When initiating request to a server tool for processing via Execute or SubmitJob, the array of input values must consist of these types. Results from a server tool (e.g. GetJobResult) are defined using these types.

WSDL Syntax

http://<host name>:<port number>/<arcgis instance>/services/<ServiceName>/GPServer?wsdl

Methods

Proxy method	Description
CancelJob	Cancels a pending job on the server.
Execute	Executes a synchronous geoprocessing tool.
GetExecutionType	Gets the type of execution, either synchronous or asynchronous.
GetJobEnvironmentValues	Gets the execution environment values for a geoprocessing job.
GetJobInputValues	Gets the input values for a job.
GetJobMessages	Gets verbose messages representing the current state of a submitted geoprocessing job.
GetJobResult	Gets the results of a geoprocessing job that has completed successfully.
GetJobResultMapExtent	Gets the map extent for the results for a job.
GetJobResultOptions	Gets the result options for a job.
GetJobStatus	Gets the current status of a geoprocessing job.
GetJobToolName	Gets the name of the tool used for a job.
GetResultMapServerName	Gets the name of the map service that may be used to render results.
GetResultWorkspace	Gets either a zip file of results generated by a geoprocessing job or the URL indicating the location of that file.
GetTaskInfos	Gets information about tasks (or tools) in a geoprocessing service which uses the data types supported by the desktop application ArcGIS Explorer.
GetTaskNames	Gets a list of task (or tool) names in a geoprocessing service that meets the data requirements to be a task consumed by ArcGIS Explorer.
GetToolInfo	Gets information on a specific tool (or task) in a geoprocessing service.
GetToolInfos	Gets information about tools (or tasks) in a geoprocessing service.
GetToolNames	Gets a list of all tool names in a geoprocessing service.
SubmitJob	Executes an asynchronous geoprocessing tool.