GDAL/OGR Geometry Type Python

Question

Taking a long shot but does anyone have an idea of whether GDAL or OGR has a function to determine a shapefile or layer geometry type using python? I specifically want the output to print "POINT" for example.

I understand that the geometry can be printed to well-known text format and have the code to complete that, but specifically require the string format.

Answer 1

See the cookbook

print(geom.GetGeometryName())

Answer 2

It's possible to get the layer geometry type without reading a feature.

ds = ogr.Open(your_input_file)
layer = ds.GetLayer()
layer_defn = layer.GetLayerDefn()
ogr.GeometryTypeToName(layer_defn.GetGeomType())

'Polygon'

Answer 3

I don´t want to be punctilious with the code, but you don´t need to loop all the features, the shapefile always store only one geometry type:

        # get the data layer
    layer = datasource.GetLayer()

    # get the first feature
    feature = layer.GetNextFeature()

    geometry = feature.GetGeometryRef()
    print(geometry.GetGeometryName())

Answer 4

I solved the problem as such:

def geom_type():
    
    shapefile_location = r"E:\Cameron\Python\GDAL\SHP\Cadastral_Parcels\Parcels.shp"
    shapefile = ogr.Open(shapefile_location)
    layer = shapefile.GetLayer()

    for feature in layer:
        geometry = feature.GetGeometryRef()
        print(geometry.GetGeometryName())
        
geom_type()

Answer 5

Why not directly use the layer.GetGeomType() method? > Gdal/Ogr python API

print(layer.GetGeomType() == wkbLineString)
>>> True

Answer 6

One gotcha to be aware of, which caught me out. Don't forget to add:

layer.ResetReading()

If you want to process the features after determining the geometry type.