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

Computational geometry


Computational geometry encompasses the algorithms needed to perform operations on vector data. The field is very old in computer science; however, most of the libraries used for geospatial operations are separate from computer graphics libraries because of geospatial coordinate systems. As described near the end of Chapter 1, Learning Geospatial Analysis with Python, computer screen coordinates are almost always expressed in positive numbers, while geospatial coordinate systems often use negative numbers when moving west and south. The Turtle graphics module used in the SimpleGIS example in Chapter 1, Learning Geospatial Analysis with Python, does use negative coordinates when moving left or down from the center of the canvas. This feature makes converting from world to screen coordinates a little easier, but is not typical of computer graphics libraries.

Several different geospatial libraries fit into the category but serve a wide range of uses from spatial selection...