Lawhead - Learning Geospatial Analysis with Python

Joel Lawhead is a PMI-certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for NVisionSolutions.com, an award-winning firm specializing in geospatial technology integration and sensor engineering.

He began using Python in 1997 and began combining it with geospatial software development in 2000. He has been published in two editions of the Python Cookbook by O'Reilly. He is also the developer of the widely used open source Python Shapefile Library (PyShp) and maintains the geospatial technical blog GeospatialPython.com and Twitter feed @SpatialPython discussing the use of the Python programming language within the geospatial industry.

In 2011, he reverse engineered and published the undocumented shapefile spatial indexing format and assisted fellow geospatial Python developer, Marc Pfister, in reversing the algorithm used, allowing developers around the world to create better-integrated and more robust geospatial applications involving shapefiles.

He has served as the lead architect, project manager, and co-developer for geospatial applications used by US government agencies including NASA, FEMA, NOAA, the US Navy, as well as many commercial and non-profit organizations. In 2002, he received the international "Esri Special Achievment in GIS" award for work on the Real-time Emergency Action Coordination Tool (REACT) for emergency management using geospatial analysis.

I would like to acknowledge my loving family including my wife Julie and four children Lauren, Will, Lillie, and Lainie who allowed me to write this book after hours. Thank you to my parents who inspired me through their actions to pursue computers, teaching, and writing; all the ingredients needed for a technical book. I would also like to acknowledge the work of the geospatial Python pioneers whose relentless and selfless contributions over the years in developing and publishing code to the geospatial Python body of knowledge made the content of this book possible, including Sean Gillies, Howard Butler, Matthew Perry, Frank Warmerdam, and Marc Pfister.

Jorge Samuel Mendes de Jesus has 15 years of programming experience in the field of Geoinformatics, with focus on Python programming, web services, and spatial databases.

He has a PhD in Geography and Sustainable Development from Ben-Gurion University and has been employed by the Joint Research Center, ISPRA, Plymouth Marine Laboratory and currently works at ISRIC, World Soil Information.

He currently lives in Wageningen, the Netherlands and spends his time learning combat sports and Dutch.

Athanasios Tom Kralidis is a Senior Systems Scientist for the Meteorological Service of Canada, where he provides geospatial technical and architectural leadership in support of MSC's data. His professional background includes key involvement in the development and integration of geospatial web standards, systems and services for the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI) with Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), as well as using these principles in architecting RsEau, Canada's water information portal.

He is active in the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) community, was lead contributer to the OGC Web Map Context Documents Specification, member of the CGDI Architecture Advisory Board, as well as part of the Canadian Advisory Committee to ISO Technical Committee 211 Geographic Information / Geomatics.

He is a developer on the MapServer, GeoNode and OWSLib open source software projects, and part of the MapServer Project Steering Committee. He is the founder and lead developer of pycsw, an OGC-compliant CSW reference implementation. He is also a charter member of the OGC.

Tom holds a Bachelor's degree in Geography from York University, GIS certification from Algonquin College, and a Master's degree in Geography and Environmental Studies (research and dissertation in Geospatial Web Services / Infrastructure) from Carleton University. He is a Certified Geomatics Specialist (GIS/LIS) with the Canadian Institute of Geomatics.

Alessandro Pasotti is the founder of ItOpen, an Italian web development consultancy focused on web GIS development and accessible websites. He has been programming for over two decades and he is now mainly a web application developer, handling both frontend and backend development.

He fell in love with Linux and free software in 1994 and never turned back. He spends most of his time developing web GIS applications in Python using GeoDjango and JavaScript mapping libraries such as OpenLayers.

www.PacktPub.com

Support files, eBooks, discount offers and more

You might want to visit www.PacktPub.com for support files and downloads related to your book.

Did you know that Packt offers eBook versions of every book published, with PDF and ePub files available? You can upgrade to the eBook version at > for more details.

At www.PacktPub.com, you can also read a collection of free technical articles, sign up for a range of free newsletters and receive exclusive discounts and offers on Packt books and eBooks.

http://PacktLib.PacktPub.com

Do you need instant solutions to your IT questions? PacktLib is Packt's online digital book library. Here, you can access, read and search across Packt's entire library of books.