GeoPandas User Guide

GeoPandas implements two main data structures, a GeoSeries and a GeoDataFrame. These are subclasses of pandas Series and DataFrame, respectively.

GeoSeries

A GeoSeries contains a sequence of geometries.

The GeoSeries class implements nearly all of the attributes and methods of Shapely objects. When applied to a GeoSeries, they will apply elementwise to all geometries in the series. Binary operations can be applied between two GeoSeries, in which case the operation is carried out elementwise. The two series will be aligned by matching indices. Binary operations can also be applied to a single geometry, in which case the operation is carried out for each element of the series with that geometry. In either case, a Series or a GeoSeries will be returned, as appropriate.

The following Shapely methods and attributes are available on GeoSeries objects:

GeoSeries.area

Returns a Series containing the area of each geometry in the GeoSeries.

GeoSeries.bounds

Returns a DataFrame with columns minx, miny, maxx, maxy values containing the bounds for each geometry. (see GeoSeries.total_bounds for the limits of the entire series).

GeoSeries.length

Returns a Series containing the length of each geometry.

GeoSeries.geom_type

Returns a Series of strings specifying the Geometry Type of each object.

GeoSeries.distance(other)

Returns a Series containing the minimum distance to the other GeoSeries (elementwise) or geometric object.

GeoSeries.representative_point()

Returns a GeoSeries of (cheaply computed) points that are guaranteed to be within each geometry.

GeoSeries.exterior

Returns a GeoSeries of LinearRings representing the outer boundary of each polygon in the GeoSeries. (Applies to GeoSeries containing only Polygons).

GeoSeries.interiors

Returns a GeoSeries of InteriorRingSequences representing the inner rings of each polygon in the GeoSeries. (Applies to GeoSeries containing only Polygons).

Unary Predicates

GeoSeries.is_empty

Returns a Series of dtype('bool') with value True for empty geometries.

GeoSeries.is_ring

Returns a Series of dtype('bool') with value True for features that are closed.

GeoSeries.is_simple

Returns a Series of dtype('bool') with value True for geometries that do not cross themselves (meaningful only for LineStrings and LinearRings).

GeoSeries.is_valid

Returns a Series of dtype('bool') with value True for geometries that are valid.

Binary Predicates

GeoSeries.almost_equals(other[, decimal=6])

Returns a Series of dtype('bool') with value True if each object is approximately equal to the other at all points to specified decimal place precision. (See also equals())

GeoSeries.contains(other)

Returns a Series of dtype('bool') with value True if each object’s interior contains the boundary and interior of the other object and their boundaries do not touch at all.

GeoSeries.crosses(other)

Returns a Series of dtype('bool') with value True if the interior of each object intersects the interior of the other but does not contain it, and the dimension of the intersection is less than the dimension of the one or the other.

GeoSeries.disjoint(other)

Returns a Series of dtype('bool') with value True if the boundary and interior of each object does not intersect at all with those of the other.

GeoSeries.equals(other)

Returns a Series of dtype('bool') with value True if if the set-theoretic boundary, interior, and exterior of each object coincides with those of the other.

GeoSeries.intersects(other)

Returns a Series of dtype('bool') with value True if if the boundary and interior of each object intersects in any way with those of the other.

GeoSeries.touches(other)

Returns a Series of dtype('bool') with value True if the objects have at least one point in common and their interiors do not intersect with any part of the other.

GeoSeries.within(other)

Returns a Series of dtype('bool') with value True if each object’s boundary and interior intersect only with the interior of the other (not its boundary or exterior). (Inverse of contains())

Set-theoretic Methods

GeoSeries.boundary

Returns a GeoSeries of lower dimensional objects representing each geometries’s set-theoretic boundary.

GeoSeries.centroid

Returns a GeoSeries of points for each geometric centroid.

GeoSeries.difference(other)

Returns a GeoSeries of the points in each geometry that are not in the other object.

GeoSeries.intersection(other)

Returns a GeoSeries of the intersection of each object with the other geometric object.

GeoSeries.symmetric_difference(other)

Returns a GeoSeries of the points in each object not in the other geometric object, and the points in the other not in this object.

GeoSeries.union(other)

Returns a GeoSeries of the union of points from each object and the other geometric object.

Constructive Methods

GeoSeries.buffer(distance, resolution=16)

Returns a GeoSeries of geometries representing all points within a given distance of each geometric object.

GeoSeries.convex_hull

Returns a GeoSeries of geometries representing the smallest convex Polygon containing all the points in each object unless the number of points in the object is less than three. For two points, the convex hull collapses to a LineString; for 1, a Point.

GeoSeries.envelope

Returns a GeoSeries of geometries representing the point or smallest rectangular polygon (with sides parallel to the coordinate axes) that contains each object.

GeoSeries.simplify(tolerance, preserve_topology=True)

Returns a GeoSeries containing a simplified representation of each object.

Affine transformations

GeoSeries.rotate(self, angle, origin='center', use_radians=False)

Rotate the coordinates of the GeoSeries.

GeoSeries.scale(self, xfact=1.0, yfact=1.0, zfact=1.0, origin='center')

Scale the geometries of the GeoSeries along each (x, y, z) dimensio.

GeoSeries.skew(self, angle, origin='center', use_radians=False)

Shear/Skew the geometries of the GeoSeries by angles along x and y dimensions.

GeoSeries.translate(self, angle, origin='center', use_radians=False)

Shift the coordinates of the GeoSeries.

Aggregating methods

GeoSeries.unary_union

Return a geometry containing the union of all geometries in the GeoSeries.

Additionally, the following methods are implemented:

GeoSeries.from_file()

Load a GeoSeries from a file from any format recognized by fiona.

GeoSeries.to_crs(crs=None, epsg=None)

Transform all geometries in a GeoSeries to a different coordinate reference system. The crs attribute on the current GeoSeries must be set. Either crs in dictionary form or an EPSG code may be specified for output.

This method will transform all points in all objects. It has no notion or projecting entire geometries. All segments joining points are assumed to be lines in the current projection, not geodesics. Objects crossing the dateline (or other projection boundary) will have undesirable behavior.

GeoSeries.plot(colormap='Set1', alpha=0.5, axes=None)

Generate a plot of the geometries in the GeoSeries. colormap can be any recognized by matplotlib, but discrete colormaps such as Accent, Dark2, Paired, Pastel1, Pastel2, Set1, Set2, or Set3 are recommended. Wraps the plot_series() function.

GeoSeries.total_bounds

Returns a tuple containing minx, miny, maxx, maxy values for the bounds of the series as a whole. See GeoSeries.bounds for the bounds of the geometries contained in the series.

Methods of pandas Series objects are also available, although not all are applicable to geometric objects and some may return a Series rather than a GeoSeries result. The methods copy(), align(), isnull() and fillna() have been implemented specifically for GeoSeries and are expected to work correctly.

GeoDataFrame

A GeoDataFrame is a tablular data structure that contains a column called geometry which contains a GeoSeries`.

Currently, the following methods are implemented for a GeoDataFrame:

classmethod GeoDataFrame.from_file(filename, **kwargs)

Load a GeoDataFrame from a file from any format recognized by fiona. See read_file().

classmethod GeoDataFrame.from_postgis(sql, con, geom_col='geom', crs=None, index_col=None, coerce_float=True, params=None)

Load a GeoDataFrame from a file from a PostGIS database. See read_postgis().

GeoSeries.to_crs(crs=None, epsg=None, inplace=False)

Transform all geometries in the geometry column of a GeoDataFrame to a different coordinate reference system. The crs attribute on the current GeoSeries must be set. Either crs in dictionary form or an EPSG code may be specified for output. If inplace=True the geometry column will be replaced in the current dataframe, otherwise a new GeoDataFrame will be returned.

This method will transform all points in all objects. It has no notion or projecting entire geometries. All segments joining points are assumed to be lines in the current projection, not geodesics. Objects crossing the dateline (or other projection boundary) will have undesirable behavior.

GeoSeries.to_file(filename, driver="ESRI Shapefile", **kwargs)

Write the GeoDataFrame to a file. By default, an ESRI shapefile is written, but any OGR data source supported by Fiona can be written. **kwargs are passed to the Fiona driver.

GeoSeries.to_json(**kwargs)

Returns a GeoJSON representation of the GeoDataFrame as a string.

GeoDataFrame.plot(column=None, colormap=None, alpha=0.5, categorical=False, legend=False, axes=None)

Generate a plot of the geometries in the GeoDataFrame. If the column parameter is given, colors plot according to values in that column, otherwise calls GeoSeries.plot() on the geometry column. Wraps the plot_dataframe() function.

All pandas DataFrame methods are also available, although they may not operate in a meaningful way on the geometry column and may not return a GeoDataFrame result even when it would be appropriate to do so.

Geopandas functions

geopandas.geocode.geocode(strings, provider='googlev3', **kwargs)

Geocode a list of strings and return a GeoDataFrame containing the resulting points in its geometry column. Available provider``s include ``googlev3, bing, google, yahoo, mapquest, and openmapquest. **kwargs will be passed as parameters to the appropriate geocoder.

Requires geopy. Please consult the Terms of Service for the chosen provider.

Examples

>>> p1 = Polygon([(0, 0), (1, 0), (1, 1)])
>>> p2 = Polygon([(0, 0), (1, 0), (1, 1), (0, 1)])
>>> p3 = Polygon([(2, 0), (3, 0), (3, 1), (2, 1)])
>>> g = GeoSeries([p1, p2, p3])
>>> g
0    POLYGON ((0.0000000000000000 0.000000000000000...
1    POLYGON ((0.0000000000000000 0.000000000000000...
2    POLYGON ((2.0000000000000000 0.000000000000000...
dtype: object
_images/test.png

Some geographic operations return normal pandas object. The area property of a GeoSeries will return a pandas.Series containing the area of each item in the GeoSeries:

>>> print g.area
0    0.5
1    1.0
2    1.0
dtype: float64

Other operations return GeoPandas objects:

>>> g.buffer(0.5)
Out[15]:
0    POLYGON ((-0.3535533905932737 0.35355339059327...
1    POLYGON ((-0.5000000000000000 0.00000000000000...
2    POLYGON ((1.5000000000000000 0.000000000000000...
dtype: object
_images/test_buffer.png

GeoPandas objects also know how to plot themselves. GeoPandas uses descartes to generate a matplotlib plot. To generate a plot of our GeoSeries, use:

>>> g.plot()

GeoPandas also implements alternate constructors that can read any data format recognized by fiona. To read a file containing the boroughs of New York City:

>>> boros = GeoDataFrame.from_file('nybb.shp')
>>> boros.set_index('BoroCode', inplace=True)
>>> boros.sort()
>>> boros
               BoroName    Shape_Area     Shape_Leng  \
BoroCode
1             Manhattan  6.364422e+08  358532.956418
2                 Bronx  1.186804e+09  464517.890553
3              Brooklyn  1.959432e+09  726568.946340
4                Queens  3.049947e+09  861038.479299
5         Staten Island  1.623853e+09  330385.036974

                                                   geometry
BoroCode
1         (POLYGON ((981219.0557861328125000 188655.3157...
2         (POLYGON ((1012821.8057861328125000 229228.264...
3         (POLYGON ((1021176.4790039062500000 151374.796...
4         (POLYGON ((1029606.0765991210937500 156073.814...
5         (POLYGON ((970217.0223999023437500 145643.3322...
_images/nyc.png 
>>> boros['geometry'].convex_hull
0    POLYGON ((915517.6877458114176989 120121.88125...
1    POLYGON ((1000721.5317993164062500 136681.7761...
2    POLYGON ((988872.8212280273437500 146772.03179...
3    POLYGON ((977855.4451904296875000 188082.32238...
4    POLYGON ((1017949.9776000976562500 225426.8845...
dtype: object
_images/nyc_hull.png

To demonstrate a more complex operation, we’ll generate a GeoSeries containing 2000 random points:

>>> from shapely.geometry import Point
>>> xmin, xmax, ymin, ymax = 900000, 1080000, 120000, 280000
>>> xc = (xmax - xmin) * np.random.random(2000) + xmin
>>> yc = (ymax - ymin) * np.random.random(2000) + ymin
>>> pts = GeoSeries([Point(x, y) for x, y in zip(xc, yc)])

Now draw a circle with fixed radius around each point:

>>> circles = pts.buffer(2000)

We can collapse these circles into a single shapely MultiPolygon geometry with

>>> mp = circles.unary_union

To extract the part of this geometry contained in each borough, we can just use:

>>> holes = boros['geometry'].intersection(mp)
_images/holes.png

and to get the area outside of the holes:

>>> boros_with_holes = boros['geometry'].difference(mp)
_images/boros_with_holes.png

Note that this can be simplified a bit, since geometry is available as an attribute on a GeoDataFrame, and the intersection and difference methods are implemented with the “&” and “-” operators, respectively. For example, the latter could have been expressed simply as boros.geometry - mp.

It’s easy to do things like calculate the fractional area in each borough that are in the holes:

>>> holes.area / boros.geometry.area
BoroCode
1           0.602015
2           0.523457
3           0.585901
4           0.577020
5           0.559507
dtype: float64