web_import.py

import urllib2
import tempfile
from zipfile import Zipfile
import os
import shutil

def web_import(url, target):
    ''' Takes a url, downloads the file, and copies it to a feature class
        For zipped shapefiles at the moment!!
        Expects the target to be consistent since it truncate/appends'''
    tfile = tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile()
    opener = urllib2.urlopen(url)
    tfile.write(opener.read())
    tempdir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
    zfile = ZipFile(tfile)
    zfile.extractall(tempdir)
    tfile.close()
    # find the shp
    filename = None
    for filename in os.listdir(tempdir):
        if filename.endswith('shp'):
            break
    filepath = os.path.join(tempdir, filename)
    if not arcpy.Exists(target):
        arcpy.CopyFeatures_management(filepath, target)
    else:
        arcpy.TruncateTable_management(target)
        arcpy.Append_management(filepath, target)
    shutil.rmtree(tempdir)