ArcScripts is dead. Long live ArcScripts.

For my thesis, I needed to be able to convert either KML or GPX files to shapefiles in ArcGIS 9.3. Unfortunately, there was no inherent way to do so in Arc. Several months ago, I poked around ArcScripts (arcscripts.esri.com) and found a toolbox written by Jason Parent that would convert KML to SHP, but not GPX. After fiddling with his code for a while, I decided to rewrite the entire code base to parse XML programmatically, instead of piecemeal. Thus the first iteration of “Convert GPSFiles to SHP” ArcToolbox was born. I have since added PLT and WPT support as separate modules in the toolbox.

I went to upload the changes today, only to find out ArcScripts has been decommissioned, and ESRI now wants us to use “Code Gallery”. Unfortunately, I don’t care for the way ESRI organized the new site, but *shrug*, I can’t upload the changes in the old place, so what’s a girl to do? The new code can now be found under “Geoprocessing Model and Script Tool Gallery“

I’m posting both links to my ArcToolbox here, in the case anyone need to convert the files from their GPS device to SHP. Updated code (supporting PLT, WPT, and including bug fixes), is available in the above mentioned Gallery at: http://resources.arcgis.com/gallery/file/geoprocessing/details?entryID=BC061D5E-1422-2418-7FCE-CC0FBB0C0825. Old code at ArcScripts is available at: http://arcscripts.esri.com/details.asp?dbid=16797.

The updated toolbox does NOT support ArcGIS 10 (I’m working on it).

Enjoy!