With ArcGIS 10, Python has become the de-facto scripting language for ESRI. While leading Open source software like QGIS, GeoServer, PostGIS all supports Python. Thus it became important to know/learn Python for GIS developers a well as users.
Can anybody make a list of such tools/modules/add-ins in Python that are crucial in GIS?
NumPy: NumPy is the fundamental package for scientific computing with Python. It contains among other things:
Besides its obvious scientific uses, NumPy can also be used as an efficient multi-dimensional container of generic data. Arbitrary data-types can be defined. This allows NumPy to seamlessly and speedily integrate with a wide variety of databases.
SciPy: SciPy (pronounced "Sigh Pie") is open-source software for mathematics, science, and engineering. It is also the name of a very popular conference on scientific programming with Python. The SciPy library depends on NumPy, which provides convenient and fast N-dimensional array manipulation. The SciPy library is built to work with NumPy arrays, and provides many user-friendly and efficient numerical routines such as routines for numerical integration and optimization. Together, they run on all popular operating systems, are quick to install, and are free of charge. NumPy and SciPy are easy to use, but powerful enough to be depended upon by some of the world's leading scientists and engineers. If you need to manipulate numbers on a computer and display or publish the results, give SciPy a try!
Shapely: Shapely is a BSD-licensed Python package for manipulation and analysis of planar geometric objects. It is based on the widely deployed GEOS (the engine of PostGIS) and JTS (from which GEOS is ported) libraries. This C dependency is traded for the ability to execute with blazing speed. Shapely is not concerned with data formats or coordinate systems, but can be readily integrated with packages that are.
GDAL Python bindings: This Python package and extensions are a number of tools for programming and manipulating the GDAL Geospatial Data Abstraction Library.
GeoDjango: GeoDjango intends to be a world-class geographic Web framework. Its goal is to make it as easy as possible to build GIS Web applications and harness the power of spatially enabled data.
SpatialPython: Nicely documented github repository.
To answer my own question I have just found this Pythons module. Although I have not used it yet, it looks exciting.
NetworkX is a Python language software package for the creation, manipulation, and study of the structure, dynamics, and functions of complex networks.
And
rtree - spatial index for Python GIS
Go to Topic :: Scientific/Engineering :: GIS dnd you have all the Python Modules for GIS (for working with shapefiles, rasters, KML, GML,GPX geocoding, etc.)
The most important have already been cited but I recommend also Fiona "Fiona provides a minimal, uncomplicated Python interface to the open source GIS community's most trusted geodata access library and integrates readily with other Python GIS packages such as pyproj, Rtree, and Shapely."
and for networking with shapefiles or Esri Feature Class with Networkx module Geometric Network Geoprocessing: "As far as I can tell, ESRI has not released any geoprocessing tools for their Geometric Network" or Seeking alternatives to pgRouting for open source routing / network analysis? or Python: how to transform a shapefile (or feature class ESRI) in a topological network (graph) (in French)
import networkx as nx
G = nx.read_shp('pointshapefile.shp')
print(G.nodes())
# result [(1.0, 2.0), (3.0, 2.0), (0.0, 0.0), (3.0, 1.0), (4.0, 4.0), (2.0, 1.0), (2.0, 4.0), (1.0, 3.0), (2.0, 3.0), (1.0, 4.0), (4.0, 3.0), (4.0, 2.0), (3.0, 4.0), (1.0, 1.0)]
print(G.edges())
# result [((1.0, 2.0), (1.0, 1.0)), ((3.0, 2.0), (2.0, 1.0)), ((3.0, 1.0), (2.0, 1.0)), ((4.0, 4.0), (3.0, 4.0)), ((2.0, 1.0), (1.0, 1.0)), ((2.0, 4.0), (2.0, 3.0)), ((1.0, 3.0), (1.0, 2.0)), ((2.0, 3.0), (1.0, 2.0)), ((1.0, 4.0), (1.0, 3.0)), ((4.0, 3.0), (4.0, 2.0)), ((4.0, 2.0), (3.0, 2.0)), ((3.0, 4.0), (2.0, 3.0)), ((1.0, 1.0), (0.0, 0.0))]
# shortest path
print(nx.astar_path(H,(1.0, 4.0),(4.0, 2.0),dist))
# result [(1.0, 4.0), (1.0, 3.0), (1.0, 2.0), (2.0, 3.0), (3.0, 2.0), (4.0, 2.0)]
# and so with all the algorithms of Networkx module
# you can also export the results in shapefile format
I use Shapely, Fiona, GDAL/OGR, Pyshp, Networkx and others in QGIS and GRASS GIS without problem (and with matplotlib or descartes for interactive graphing to). They often have algorithms easier to use for treatment.
Some of these modules can also be used in ArcPy with problems because ArcPy uses version 1.3 of Numpy, outdated (now version 1.6.1...) and you can not update it without breaking the ArcPy module.
For the cartographic rendering of GIS data:
Adding to the list:
PySAL - "open source cross-platform library of spatial analysis functions"
available from: http://code.google.com/p/pysal/
pyshp - a python shapefile reader and writer in pure python
available from: http://code.google.com/p/pyshp/
Edit:
Someone showed me this module today, may be of some intrest to people. Sample GIS vector and raster data for python usage:
I use and recommend ReportLab Toolkit, the Open Source PDF library for programatically creating documents in PDF format. As advertised on its pages, it is a robust, flexible, time-proven, industry-strength solution. It's free, open-source software written in Python but its syntax is not the easiest that I've ever dealt with :-)
At ArcGIS 10.0 it is invaluable for writing reports in PDF format from feature classes and tables although some of this functionality may not be so necessary at 10.1 when access to PDF reports from the ArcGIS report writer becomes available to ArcPy.
pdfgen package or platypus? I need to gen reports with jpegs and text, nothing too fancy.
Commented
Jul 12, 2012 at 22:03
In the Django world:
There are yet more:
GRASS - You can call GRASS with Python.
FMEObjects - If you have an FME license they have a python module too which allows you to call some of their cool transformers.
The Enthought Package Distribution has a lot of the packages listed above bundled into a cohesive platform. They've even ensured that it can be easily configured to work from ArcGIS's python prompt and that arcpy can be used from it's python prompt. We use this in our offices. From our internal wiki:
The best way connect ArcGIS and EPD is to install both and link them using .pth files so the Python sys.path includes the other system's modules. The file "zzEPD.pth" allows ArcGIS Python to access EPD modules, and "zzArcGIS.pth" allows EPD Python to access arcpy. (The "zz" prefix is there to ensure that the "foreign" packages are last in the sys.path to avoid potential conflicts for modules that exist in both Python installations.) If you run into ArcGIS conflicts, simply rename the file to .txt ("zzEPD.pth.txt") and restart ArcGIS and ArcGIS will no longer "see" EPD modules (they will not be in the sys.path).
*zzEPD.pth - place in folder \Python27\Desktop10.1\lib\site-packages*
# zzEPD.pth
# Path to Enthought modules
C:\Python27\epd32\lib\site-packages
*zzArcGIS.pth - place in folder \Python27\epd32\lib\site-packages*
# zzArcGIS.pth
# copy of \Python27\Desktop10.1\lib\site-packages\ArcGIS.pth
C:\ArcGIS\Desktop10.1\bin
C:\ArcGIS\Desktop10.1\arcpy
C:\ArcGIS\Desktop10.1\ArcToolbox\Scripts
Not specific to GIS, but for debugging python, IPDB is amazing. https://pypi.python.org/pypi/ipdb
To use it, just place the following lines in your code:
import ipdb
ipdb.set_trace()
Then in your Python shell you can drop into any piece of code and interact with all of the variables at that current state.
arcgisscriptingis a module. See help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//…[tag:python] + [tag:my-software]search and sorted via the votes and faq tabs. The answers here can never hope to match that.