Michael Diener - Python Geospatial Analysis Cookbook

Michael Diener graduated from Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada, in 2001 with a bachelor of science degree in geography. He began working in 1995 with Environment Canada as a GIS (Geographic Information Systems) analyst and has continued to work with GIS technologies ever since.

In 2008, he founded a company called GOMOGI that is focused on building web and mobile GIS application with open source tools. In 2011, the focus changed to indoor wayfinding and navigation solutions and building the indrz platform that Michael had envisioned.

From time to time, Michael also holds seminars for organizations wanting to explore or discover the possibilities of how GIS can increase productivity and help better answer spatial questions. He is also the creative head of new product development in his company. His technical skills include working with Python to solve a wide range of spatial problems on a daily basis. Through the years, he has developed many spatial applications with Python, including indrz and golfgis, which are two of the products built by his company, GOMOGI.

He is also lecturer of GIS at the Alpen Adria University, Klagenfurt, where he enjoys teaching students the wonderful powers of GIS and explaining how to solve spatial problems with open source GIS and Python.

I would like to dedicate this book to my family, beginning with my loving wife, Silvia, who encouraged and supported me through the writing of this book. I must also thank my three boys, Noah, Levi, and Jasper, for sacrificing many evenings and weekends of playtime for daddys book time. My parents, Birte and Hartwig, also deserve a big thank you for always believing in methank you for everything.

Jchym epick is an open source GIS software consultant, developer, and user.

Richard Marsden has over 15 years of professional software development experience. After starting in the fields of geophysics and oil exploration, he has spent the last 10 years running the Winwaed Software Technology LLC independent software vendor. Winwaed specializes in geospatial tools and applications, including web applications, and operates the http://www.mapping-tools.com website for tools and add-ins for geospatial products such as Caliper Maptitude and Microsoft MapPoint.

Richard has been a technical reviewer for Python Geospatial Development and Python Geospatial Analysis Essentials both by Erik Westra, and Mastering Python Forensics by Dr. Michael Spreitzenbarth and Dr. Johann Uhrmann all by Packt Publishing.

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Preface

Geospatial analysis is not special; it is just different when compared to other types of analysis such as financial market analysis. We work with geometry objects, such as lines, points, and polygons, and connect these geometries to attributes such as business data. We ask "where" question, such as "Where is the nearest pub?", "Where are all my customers located?", and "Where is my competition located?". The other location questions include, "Will this new building cast a shadow over the park?", "What is the shortest way to school?", "What is the safest way to school for my kids?", "Will this building block my view of the mountains?", and "Where is the optimal place to build my next store?". Identify the areas that fire trucks can reach from their station in 5 min, 10 min, or 20 min, and so on.

One thing all these questions have in common is the fact that you need to know where certain objects are located in order to answer them. Without the spatial component, you cannot answer such questions and this is what geospatial analysis is all about.

Geospatial features are laid over each other and patterns or trends are easily identified. This ability to see a pattern or trend is geospatial analysis in its simplest form.

Throughout this book, simple and complex code recipes are provided as small working models that can easily be integrated or expanded into a larger project or model.

Analysis is the fun part of GIS, and involves visualizing relationships, identifying trends, and seeing patterns that are not visible in a spreadsheet.