Python Geospatial Development

by Erik Westra

Geospatial development links your data to locations on the surface of the Earth. 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. This book provides an overview of the major geospatial concepts, data sources, and toolkits. It starts by showing 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. Further on, 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 the GeoDjango framework. By the end of this book, you will be able to confidently use Python to write your own geospatial applications ranging from quick, one-off utilities to sophisticated web-based applications using maps and other geospatial data. Erik Westra has been a professional software developer for over 25 years and has worked almost exclusively in Python for the past decade. Erik's early interest in graphical user interface design led to the development of one of the most advanced urgent courier dispatch systems used by messenger and courier companies worldwide. In recent years, Erik has been involved in the design and implementation of systems matching seekers and providers of goods and services across a range of geographical areas as well as real-time messaging and payments systems. This work has included the creation of real-time geocoders and map-based views of constantly changing data. Erik is based in New Zealand, and he works for companies worldwide. He is also the author of the Packt titles Python Geospatial Analysis and Building Mapping Applications with QGIS as well as the forthcoming title Modular Programming with Python.

Genres: Nonfiction, Programming, Technical

487 pages, Paperback

First published December 14, 2010

Reviews

[Thomas Helin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Python Geospatial Development is a book aimed mainly for Python developers who wish to widen their capabilities to include also geospatial coding. The book is divided in different chapters, all with some python code and therefore functions as a hand-on tutorial. The book begins with some basic information about Python and geospatial development and how to use python when analyzing geospatial data. Next chapter describes some basic GIS concepts such as location, how to calculate distances, problems with different units to be aware of, and how to manage different projections.
Since geographical data can be expensive another chapter describes freely available data on the Internet, making it possible for a Python developer to test geospatial coding without having to spend too much money to buy data.
As far as I’ve read I agree this is a good book for Python developers, not for those who need to learn Python.

[Remco · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book as a Python developer already working with GIS applications for a few years, to see if there were bits of knowledge I was missing. I learned a few new things, for instance a better understanding of what PyProj is used for, and I have a better overview of the capabilities of different spatial databases.

It's a bit hard for me to judge how good this book is for people without my experience though. I have a feeling that it is mainly a list of a number of libraries and technologies, and some examples, and that it is a bit light on strong opinions and recommendations. I work with raster data a lot, reading the data and doing Numpy calculations on them, and that sort of thing isn't mentioned much. But the book is already quite large so perhaps it's not fair to expect that.

If you are new to doing Python and GIS, then this book is definitely a good overview of the most important libraries, and it will help you get up to speed.

[Heath Bishop · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides a nice variety of application areas within the field of GIS. From Coordinate systems to databases, editing to map making, this book has something for everyone. The author provides a large number of code examples which work through many real-world scenarios. The inclusion of Open Source examples is an added bonus. This is a great resource for anyone wishing to advance their skills in Geospatial programming using Python.

[Mowren052 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is well written as a technical user document. I also appreciate that software used is also open source. There are many diagrams to explain items visually. If you would like to use Python and explore GIS concepts, this is an excellent resource with many examples and practices to try out.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of good content, good overview of issues and tools. Very hands on, so not so useful if you're not walking through the code.