Book Image

Learning Geospatial Analysis with Python

By : Joel Lawhead
4 (1)
Book Image

Learning Geospatial Analysis with Python

4 (1)
By: Joel Lawhead

Overview of this book

Geospatial analysis is used in almost every field you can think of from medicine, to defense, to farming. It is an approach to use statistical analysis and other informational engineering to data which has a geographical or geospatial aspect. And this typically involves applications capable of geospatial display and processing to get a compiled and useful data. "Learning Geospatial Analysis with Python" uses the expressive and powerful Python programming language to guide you through geographic information systems, remote sensing, topography, and more. It explains how to use a framework in order to approach Geospatial analysis effectively, but on your own terms. "Learning Geospatial Analysis with Python" starts with a background of the field, a survey of the techniques and technology used, and then splits the field into its component speciality areas: GIS, remote sensing, elevation data, advanced modelling, and real-time data. This book will teach you everything there is to know, from using a particular software package or API to using generic algorithms that can be applied to Geospatial analysis. This book focuses on pure Python whenever possible to minimize compiling platform-dependent binaries, so that you don't become bogged down in just getting ready to do analysis. "Learning Geospatial Analysis with Python" will round out your technical library with handy recipes and a good understanding of a field that supplements many a modern day human endeavors.
Table of Contents (17 chapters)
Learning Geospatial Analysis with Python
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Coordinate conversion


When you start working with multiple data sets you'll inevitably end up with data in different coordinate systems and projections. You can convert back and forth between UTM and latitude/longitude using a pure Python module called utm. You can install it using easy_install or pip from PyPI:

https://pypi.python.org/pypi/utm

The utm module is straightforward to use. To convert from UTM to latitude and longitude:

>>> import utm
>>> y = 479747.0453210057
>>> x = 5377685.825323031
>>> zone = 32
>>> band = 'U'
>>> utm.to_latlon(y,x,zone,band)
(48.55199390882121, 8.725555729071763)

The UTM zones are numbered horizontally. However, vertically, the bands of latitude are ordered by English alphabets with a few exceptions. The letters A, B, Y, and Z cover the poles. The letters I and O are omitted because they look too much like 1 and 0. Letters N through X are in the northern hemisphere while C through M are in the southern...