{"id":1163122,"date":"2021-03-23T08:32:27","date_gmt":"2021-03-23T15:32:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=1163122"},"modified":"2021-03-24T14:07:19","modified_gmt":"2021-03-24T21:07:19","slug":"a-primer-for-python-scripting-in-insights","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/insights\/analytics\/a-primer-for-python-scripting-in-insights","title":{"rendered":"A Primer for Python Scripting in ArcGIS Insights"},"author":203542,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":""},"categories":[23341],"tags":[23551,26221,24341,23391,27911],"industry":[],"product":[36801],"class_list":["post-1163122","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-analytics","tag-location-analytics","tag-open-data","tag-python","tag-spatial-analytics","tag-tutorial","product-insights"],"acf":{"short_description":"Get started with scripting in ArcGIS Insights by learning about our scripting logic and data wrangling workflows in a hands-on example.","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

This hands-on blog post, you will learn about the scripting logic and common data workflows that will allow you to get the most out of Python scripting in Insights. You are not a Python user? Fret not! While we will wrangle data using Python in the second half of this post, many of the concepts discussed here can be applied to R as well.<\/em><\/p>\n

Interacting with scripts<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s get to it! Before we dive into our hands-on example, let\u2019s have a look at logic of creating<\/em> and running<\/em> scripts in Insights. We will also touch upon certain aspects of the user interface. If you want to familiarize yourself with the entire user interface, check out the official Insights documentation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Creating scripts<\/h3>\n

There are two ways to create scripts in Insights:<\/p>\n

Creating a new script by opening the scripting environment console<\/strong>: After you selected a Python or R Kernel in the console, Insights will automatically populate the data pane with a script element.<\/p>\n

Creating a new script from an existing script:<\/strong> The add to model<\/code> button in the console toolbar of your existing scripts allows you to create a new script from the selected cell. By doing so, the newly created script gets added to the Insights model<\/a>. Adding a script to a model is a helpful way to rerun your workflow with different data.<\/p>\n

Generally, I recommend limiting the number of independent scripts in your workbook. Insight\u2019s scripting capability is not optimized for many scripts: Each time you open an existing script, the previous Kernel<\/a> is destroyed and a new one is created. You can reduce scripts by adding multiple functions to one script or by breaking up your code into logical blocks using code cells.<\/p>\n

Running scripts<\/h3>\n

Once you have added your script to Insights and written some code, you have three options to run your script. Each of them serves a different purpose:<\/p>\n

Running in console:<\/strong> Click on the Run<\/code> button in the scripting environment toolbar. I recommend this method for debugging purposes or if you created a custom Python visualization that you would like to add to your workbook.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":1168582,"id":1168582,"title":"run21","filename":"run21.jpg","filesize":55052,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2021\/03\/run21.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/insights\/analytics\/a-primer-for-python-scripting-in-insights\/run21","alt":"Running script in console","author":"203542","description":"Running script in console","caption":"Running script in console","name":"run21","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":1163122,"date":"2021-03-22 23:47:22","modified":"2021-03-22 23:56:01","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1435,"height":835,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2021\/03\/run21-213x200.jpg","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2021\/03\/run21.jpg","medium-width":449,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2021\/03\/run21.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":447,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2021\/03\/run21.jpg","large-width":1435,"large-height":835,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2021\/03\/run21.jpg","1536x1536-width":1435,"1536x1536-height":835,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2021\/03\/run21.jpg","2048x2048-width":1435,"2048x2048-height":835,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2021\/03\/run21-799x465.jpg","card_image-width":799,"card_image-height":465,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2021\/03\/run21.jpg","wide_image-width":1435,"wide_image-height":835}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Running from model:<\/strong> In order to run from model, you need to add your script to the model first. In addition, you need to pull in data from Insights into your script (more on this in the second half). Switching to analysis view and clicking on the edit<\/code> icon will prompt you to replace and rerun the script with new fields. Note: Make sure you rerun your script with valid fields as defined by your script. Otherwise, the script will fail.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":1168592,"id":1168592,"title":"run31","filename":"run31-1.jpg","filesize":57673,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2021\/03\/run31-1.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/insights\/analytics\/a-primer-for-python-scripting-in-insights\/run31-2","alt":"Running script from model","author":"203542","description":"Running script from model","caption":"Running script from model","name":"run31-2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":1163122,"date":"2021-03-22 23:47:59","modified":"2021-03-22 23:56:23","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1435,"height":835,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2021\/03\/run31-1-213x200.jpg","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2021\/03\/run31-1.jpg","medium-width":449,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2021\/03\/run31-1.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":447,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2021\/03\/run31-1.jpg","large-width":1435,"large-height":835,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2021\/03\/run31-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":1435,"1536x1536-height":835,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2021\/03\/run31-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":1435,"2048x2048-height":835,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2021\/03\/run31-1-799x465.jpg","card_image-width":799,"card_image-height":465,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2021\/03\/run31-1.jpg","wide_image-width":1435,"wide_image-height":835}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Running from Insights data pane<\/strong>: You can run a script from the data pane by clicking on the three dots to the right of it and selecting run<\/code>. This will run any script, no matter if it is pulling in data from Insights or not. This is useful if you made a change to your script and want to rerun it without replacing any field names.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":1168652,"id":1168652,"title":"run11","filename":"run11.jpg","filesize":40012,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2021\/03\/run11.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/insights\/analytics\/a-primer-for-python-scripting-in-insights\/run11","alt":"Running script from data pane","author":"203542","description":"Running script from data pane","caption":"Running script from data pane","name":"run11","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":1163122,"date":"2021-03-22 23:54:40","modified":"2021-03-22 23:56:41","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1435,"height":835,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2021\/03\/run11-213x200.jpg","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2021\/03\/run11.jpg","medium-width":449,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2021\/03\/run11.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":447,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2021\/03\/run11.jpg","large-width":1435,"large-height":835,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2021\/03\/run11.jpg","1536x1536-width":1435,"1536x1536-height":835,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2021\/03\/run11.jpg","2048x2048-width":1435,"2048x2048-height":835,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2021\/03\/run11-799x465.jpg","card_image-width":799,"card_image-height":465,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2021\/03\/run11.jpg","wide_image-width":1435,"wide_image-height":835}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Working with scripts: One example, three workflows<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Now that we know more about scripting logic, let\u2019s dive into how we can combine scripting with Insights\u2019 core functionalities. I will walk you through three different data wrangling workflows using one example for all three workflows. In the example, we want to find out if there is a spatial correlation between median household incomes of Census tracts in New York City.<\/p>\n

Before we get started<\/h3>\n

We will talk about the general concepts of integrating scripting in Insights and won\u2019t discuss every single line of code. If you would like to see what each line of code is doing, this is what you need to follow along:<\/p>\n