How to export sf object to GDB using RPyGeo in R (Windows)? - r

Question

I have a bunch of sf objects I'd like to export to GDB from R. I'm running R 4.0.2 on Windows 10. In this case the sf objects are all vector point data. The main reasons to export to GDB are to keep longer field names (the shapefile truncation is very annoying), and because GDBs are more desirable storage locations for our workflows.
Yes, I know about the ArcGisBinding package. I've got it to work in a test script but it's pretty unstable - often crashing and requiring a restart of R. This is a problem, because the sf objects I'd like to export come after an already long Rmd that reads in, formats and cleans the data. So it's not a simple manner of re-running the script until arc.write doesn't break. I could break up the script, but then I'd still have to read in a bunch of shapefiles. One option I haven't yet explored is using reticulate to call a python script instead of trying to do everything in R, but we're trying to do our analysis all in one place, if possible.
I'm pretty sure I've managed to set up RPyGeo appropriately, first setting my python path using the reticulate package. I'm doing it this way because IT restrictions means I can't edit PATH variables on my machine.
#package calls
library(sf)
library(spData)
library(reticulate)
#set python version in reticulate
py_path <- "C:/Program Files/ArcGIS/Pro/bin/Python/envs/arcgispro-py3/python.exe"
reticulate::use_python(python = py_path, required = TRUE)
#call RPyGeo
library(RPyGeo) # for potential point export
#output gdb
out.gdb <- "C:/LOCAL_PROJECTS/Output/Output.gdb"
#RPyGeo Parameters
# Note that, in order to use RPyGeo you need a working ArcMap or ArcGIS Pro installation on your computer.
# python path - note that this will change depending on which version of Arc one is using
# py_path <- "C:/Program Files/ArcGIS/Pro/bin/Python/envs/arcgispro-py3/python.exe"
arcpy <- rpygeo_build_env(workspace = out.gdb,
overwrite = TRUE,
extensions = c("Spatial","DataInteroperability"),
path = py_path)
I've tried a bunch of different tools to export an sf object, here using dummy data also used in the RPyGeo vignette
data(nz, package = "spData")
arcpy$Copy_management(in_data = nz,out_data = "nz_test")
arcpy$Copy_management(in_data = nz,out_data = file.path(out.gdb,"nz"))
arcpy$FeatureClassToGeodatabase_conversion(Input_Features = nz,Output_Geodatabase = out.gdb)
arcpy$FeatureClassToFeatureClass_conversion(in_features = nz,out_path = out.gdb,out_name = "nz")
arcpy$QuickExport_interop(Input = nz,Output = file.path(out.gdb,"nz"))
arcpy$CopyFeatures_management(in_features = nz,out_feature_class = file.path(out.gdb,"nz"))
arcpy$CopyFeatures_management(in_features = nz,out_feature_class = "nz")
Each time I get an error, for example:
Error in py_call_impl(callable, dots$args, dots$keywords) :
RuntimeError: Object: Error in executing tool
Detailed traceback:
File "C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\Pro\Resources\ArcPy\arcpy\management.py", line 3232, in CopyFeatures
raise e
File "C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\Pro\Resources\ArcPy\arcpy\management.py", line 3229, in CopyFeatures
retval = convertArcObjectToPythonObject(gp.CopyFeatures_management(*gp_fixargs((in_features, out_feature_class, config_keyword, spatial_grid_1, spatial_grid_2, spatial_grid_3), True)))
File "C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\Pro\Resources\ArcPy\arcpy\geoprocessing\_base.py", line 511, in <lambda>
return lambda *args: val(*gp_fixargs(args, True))
I'm not an expert in ArcPy by any means. Nor am I an expert in tracing errors inside packages. Am I making a simple syntax mistake? Is there something else that I'm missing? Any help would be much appreciated!