arcpy - Get extent of Georeferenced Rasters in Python and output to polygon shapefile

I would like to create a shapefile containing the extents of each of the rasters in a directory. Is it possible to capture the extent of a raster using Python?

I have tried

extent1=arcgisscripting.Raster.extent('stg1_05.jpg') Runtime error : 'getset_descriptor' object is not callable

and I can't seem to find any help on the module.

I also tried

arcpy.RasterToPolygon_conversion(inRaster, outPolygons, "SIMPLIFY", field)

Runtime error : ERROR 010247: The size of the output shapefile exceeds the 2 GB limit. ERROR 010067: Error in executing grid expression. Failed to execute (RasterToPolygon).

Anyway this will be a polygon of the whole raster file and not just the extents -even if this is generated, I guess we could then run a merge/dissolve but the files created are to big.

Another option I was thinking of was to convert the raster to layer

import arcpy, glob, os, sys
from arcpy import env, mapping
path = os.getcwd()
env.workspace = path
RasterType = 'TIF'
FileList = glob.glob(path + "\*." + RasterType)

print 'Reading files from ' + path

os.chdir(path)
#print FileList

x=0
z=1005
File=FileList[x]
LayerWorking=arcpy.mapping.Layer(File)
print File
LayerExtent=LayerWorking.getExtent()
XMAX = LayerExtent.XMax

XMIN = LayerExtent.XMin
YMAX = LayerExtent.YMax
YMIN = LayerExtent.YMin
pnt1 = arcpy.Point(XMIN, YMIN)
pnt2 = arcpy.Point(XMIN, YMAX)
pnt3 = arcpy.Point(XMAX, YMAX)
pnt4 = arcpy.Point(XMAX, YMIN)
array = arcpy.Array()
array.add(pnt1)
array.add(pnt2)

array.add(pnt3)
array.add(pnt4)
array.add(pnt1)
polygon = arcpy.Polygon(array)
ShapeFile = path + "\Polygon_Extent" + "_" + str(z) + ".shp"
print ShapeFile
print arcpy.GetMessages()
arcpy.CreateFeatureclass_management(path, ShapeFile, "POLYGON")
print arcpy.GetMessages()
arcpy.CopyFeatures_management(polygon, ShapeFile)

Gives following output

Reading files from C:\Python26\script_tests\rectify C:\Python26\script_tests\rectify\Stage1_01a.TIF C:\Python26\script_tests\rectify\Polygon_Extent_1005.shp Executing: CopyFeatures in_memory\fB4DC2172_7D02_44B9_B55C_9E71427AE96E C:\Python26\script_tests\rectify\Polygon_Extent_1004.shp # 0 0 0 Start Time: Thu Jul 14 16:11:38 2011 Failed to execute. Parameters are not valid. ERROR 000725: Output Feature Class: Dataset C:\Python26\script_tests\rectify\Polygon_Extent_1004.shp already exists. Failed to execute (CopyFeatures). Failed at Thu Jul 14 16:11:38 2011 (Elapsed Time: 0.00 seconds) Traceback (most recent call last): File "C:\Python26\script_tests\rectify\temp.py", line 36, in arcpy.CreateFeatureclass_management(path, ShapeFile, "POLYGON") File "C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\Desktop10.0\arcpy\arcpy\management.py", line 1539, in CreateFeatureclass raise e ExecuteError: ERROR 999999: Error executing function. Failed to execute (CreateFeatureclass).

using IDLE...Which is wierd as when you run it from the Python window in ArcMap it works fine when the Create/Copy feature commands are run individually.

ShapeFile = "Polygon_Extent" + "_" + str(z) + ".shp" arcpy.CreateFeatureclass_management(path, ShapeFile, "POLYGON")

Result 'C:\Python26\script_tests\rectify\Polygon_Extent_1005.shp'>

arcpy.CopyFeatures_management(polygon, ShapeFile)

Result 'C:\Python26\script_tests\rectify\Polygon_Extent_1005.shp'>

this seems to be a very convoluted process...

UPDATE: I am trying to add the filename to the table and for some reason it inserts a new row into the table and doesn't accept "updateRow(row)"? what am I doing wrong? Also the files don't seem to retain the projection I assign them.

Reading files from C:\Python26\script_tests\rectify C:\Python26\script_tests\rectify\Stage1_01a.TIF Created: Polygon_Extent_1.shp Filled in C:\Python26\script_tests\rectify\Stage1_01a.TIF Traceback (most recent call last): File "C:\Python26\script_tests\rectify\ResterExtent_toSHP.py", line 45, in rows.updateRow(row) File "C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\Desktop10.0\arcpy\arcpy\arcobjects\arcobjects.py", line 102, in updateRow return convertArcObjectToPythonObject(self._arc_object.UpdateRow(*gp_fixargs(args))) RuntimeError: ERROR 999999: Error executing function.

SCRIPT all working now.

import arcpy, glob, os, sys, arcgisscripting
from arcpy import env, mapping
path = os.getcwd()
env.workspace = path
env.overwriteOutput = True
RasterType = 'TIF'
FileList = glob.glob(path + "\*." + RasterType)
print 'Reading files from ' + path

os.chdir(path)
#print FileList
geometry_type = "POLYGON"
template = "C:\\Python26\\GDA_1994_MGA_Zone_55.shp"
has_m = "DISABLED"
has_z = "DISABLED"
# Creating a spatial reference object
spatial_reference = arcpy.SpatialReference("C:\\Python26\\GDA_1994_MGA_Zone_55.prj")

x=0

z=x+1
for File in FileList:
#File=FileList[x]
    RasterFile = arcgisscripting.Raster(File)
    RasterExtent = RasterFile.extent
    print File
    XMAX = RasterExtent.XMax
    XMIN = RasterExtent.XMin
    YMAX = RasterExtent.YMax
    YMIN = RasterExtent.YMin

    pnt1 = arcpy.Point(XMIN, YMIN)
    pnt2 = arcpy.Point(XMIN, YMAX)
    pnt3 = arcpy.Point(XMAX, YMAX)
    pnt4 = arcpy.Point(XMAX, YMIN)
    array = arcpy.Array()
    array.add(pnt1)
    array.add(pnt2)
    array.add(pnt3)
    array.add(pnt4)
    array.add(pnt1)

    polygon = arcpy.Polygon(array)
    arcpy.CreateFeatureclass_management(path, "Temp_Polygon_Extent" + "_" + str(z), geometry_type, template, has_m, has_z, spatial_reference)
    arcpy.CopyFeatures_management(polygon, "Temp_Polygon_Extent" + "_" + str(z))
    ShapeFile = "Temp_Polygon_Extent" + "_" + str(z) + ".shp"
    print "Created: " + ShapeFile
    arcpy.AddField_management(ShapeFile,'FileName','TEXT')
    desc = arcpy.Describe(ShapeFile)
    print desc, ShapeFile
    #rows = arcpy.InsertCursor(ShapeFile, desc)
    rows = arcpy.UpdateCursor(ShapeFile)

    #row = rows.newRow()
    #row.FileName = str(File)
    #row.FileName = File
    print 'Filled in: ', str(File) 
    #rows.insertRow(row)
    for row in rows:
        row.FileName = str(ShapeFile)
        rows.updateRow(row)
    x=x+1
    z=z+1


#cleaning up
arcpy.CreateFeatureclass_management(path, "Extent.shp", geometry_type, template, has_m, has_z, spatial_reference)
list =[]
lstFCs = arcpy.ListFeatureClasses("Temp_Polygon_Extent*")
print 'Merging Polygon_Extents* to Extent.shp'

for fc in lstFCs:
    print fc
    list.append(fc)


arcpy.Merge_management(list, "Extent.shp")
#print 'Deleting identical entries and temp files'
#arcpy.DeleteIdentical_management("Extent.shp", ["SHAPE"])
print 'Created Extent.shp and exiting'

for item in list:
    arcpy.Delete_management(item) 
del row, rows

GDAL Ver.

import os, gdal
gdaltindex Extent.shp *.tif

File "". line 1 SyntaxError: invalid syntax

BTW FTTools Python window is a pain as you can't copy/past code/errors from it to.

Answer

You almost had it right with your first attempt. What you are doing is trying to call the extent property with a filename as its parameter, when you need to construct a Raster object with that parameter.

In practical terms, that means:

extent1 = arcgisscripting.Raster('stg1_05.jpg').extent

Although it is usually better practice to break it down into two steps:

raster1 = arcgisscripting.Raster('stg1_05.jpg')
extent1 = raster1.extent

Note the lack of parentheses on extent, this is because it is a property rather than a method.