In this chapter, you learned the hierarchy of geospatial analysis software. You learned a framework for approaching the hundreds of existing geospatial software packages and libraries by categorizing them into one or more major functions including data access, computational geometry, raster processing, visualization, and metadata management.
We also examined the commonly used foundation libraries including GDAL, OGR, PROJ.4, and GEOS found again and again in geospatial software. You can approach any new piece of geospatial software, trace it back to these core libraries and then ask, What is the value added? to better understand the package. If the software isn't using one of these libraries, you need to ask, Why are these developers going against the grain? to understand what that system brings to the table.
Python was only mentioned a few times in this chapter to avoid any distraction in understanding the geospatial software landscape. But, as we will see, Python is interwoven into...