Book Image

Python Geospatial Development - Second Edition - Second Edition

By : Erik Westra
Book Image

Python Geospatial Development - Second Edition - Second Edition

By: Erik Westra

Overview of this book

Geospatial development links your data to places on the Earth's surface. Writing geospatial programs involves tasks such as grouping data by location, storing and analyzing large amounts of spatial information, performing complex geospatial calculations, and drawing colorful interactive maps. In order to do this well, you'll need appropriate tools and techniques, as well as a thorough understanding of geospatial concepts such as map projections, datums and coordinate systems. Python Geospatial Development - Second Edition teaches you everything you need to know about writing geospatial applications using Python. No prior knowledge of geospatial concepts, tools or techniques is required. The book guides you through the process of installing and using various toolkits, obtaining geospatial data for use in your programs, and building complete and sophisticated geospatial applications in Python. Python Geospatial Development teaches you everything you need to know about writing geospatial applications using Python. No prior knowledge of geospatial concepts, tools or techniques is required. The book guides you through the process of installing and using various toolkits, obtaining geospatial data for use in your programs, and building complete and sophisticated geospatial applications in Python. This book provides an overview of the major geospatial concepts, data sources and toolkits. It teaches you how to store and access spatial data using Python, how to perform a range of spatial calculations, and how to store spatial data in a database. Because maps are such an important aspect of geospatial programming, the book teaches you how to build your own “slippy map” interface within a web application, and finishes with the detailed construction of a geospatial data editor using Geodjango. Whether you want to write quick utilities to solve spatial problems, or develop sophisticated web applications based around maps and geospatial data, this book includes everything you need to know.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
Python Geospatial Development
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Summary


In this chapter, we looked at a number of important libraries for developing geospatial applications using Python. We learned the following:

  • GDAL is a C++ library for reading (and sometimes writing) raster-based geospatial data.

  • OGR is a C++ library for reading (and sometimes writing) vector-based geospatial data.

  • GDAL and OGR include Python bindings that are easy to use, and support a large number of data formats.

  • The PROJ.4 library, and its Pythonic pyproj wrapper, allow you to convert between geographic coordinates (points on the Earth's surface) and cartographic coordinates (x,y coordinates on a two-dimensional plane) using any desired map projection and ellipsoid.

  • The pyproj Geod class allows you to perform various geodetic calculations based on points on the Earth's surface, a given distance, and a given angle (azimuth).

  • A geospatial data manipulation library called the Java Topology Suite was originally developed for Java. This was then rewritten in C++ under the name GEOS, and...