A Python Protocol for Geospatial Data

Author: Sean Gillies Version: 1.0

Abstract

This document describes a GeoJSON-like protocol for geo-spatial (GIS) vector data.

Introduction

Python has a number of built-in protocols (descriptors, iterators, etc). A very simple and familiar one involves string representations of objects. The built-in str() function calls the __str__() method of its single argument. By implementing __str__(), instances of any class can be printed by any other Python program.

>>> class A(object):
...     def __str__(self):
...         return "Eh!"
...
>>> a = A()
>>> str(a)
'Eh!'
>>> "%s" % a
'Eh!'

What if we could do something like this for geo-spatial objects? It might, for example, let any object be analyzed using any other hypothetical software package like this:

>>> from some_analytic_module import as_geometry
>>> as_geometry(obj).buffer(1.0).area   # obj is a "point" of some kind
3.1365484905459389

The hypothetical as_geometry() function of the hypothetical some_analytic_module module would access relevant data of its single argument using an agreed upon method or attribute.

__geo_interface__

Following the lead of numpy's Array Interface [1], let's agree on a __geo_interface__ property. To avoid creating even more protocols, let's make the value of this attribute a Python mapping. To further minimize invention, let's borrow from the GeoJSON format [2] for the structure of this mapping.

The keys are:

type (required): A string indicating the geospatial type. Possible values are "Feature" or a geometry type: "Point", "LineString", "Polygon", etc.
bbox (optional): A tuple of floats that describes the geo-spatial bounds of the object: (left, bottom, right, top) or (west, south, east, north).
properties (optional): A mapping of feature properties (labels, populations ... you name it. Dependent on the data). Valid for "Feature" types only.
geometry (optional): The geometric object of a "Feature" type, also as a mapping.
coordinates (required): Valid only for geometry types. This is an (x, y) or (longitude, latitude) tuple in the case of a "Point", a list of such tuples in the "LineString" case, or a list of lists in the "Polygon" case. See the GeoJSON spec for details.

Examples

First, a toy class with a point representation:

>>> class Pointy(object):
...     __geo_interface__ = {'type': 'Point', 'coordinates': (0.0, 0.0)}
...
>>> as_geometry(Pointy()).buffer(1.0).area
3.1365484905459389

Next, a toy class with a feature representation:

>>> class Placemark(object):
...     __geo_interface__ = {
...         'type': 'Feature',
...         'properties': {'name': 'Phoo'},
...         'geometry': Pointy.__geo_interface__ }
>>> from my_analytic_module import as_feature
>>> as_feature(Placemark())['properties']['name']
'Phoo'

Implementations

Python programs and packages that you have heard of – and made be a frequent user of – already implement this protocol:

ArcPy [3]
descartes [4]
geojson [5]
PySAL [6]

Shapely

Shapely [7] provides a shape() function that makes Shapely geometries from objects that provide __geo_interface__ and a mapping() function that writes geometries out as dictionaries:

>>> from shapely.geometry import Point
>>> from shapely.geometry import mapping, shape
>>> Point(0.0, 0.0).__geo_interface__
{'type': 'Point', 'coordinates': (0.0, 0.0)}
>>> shape(Point(0.0, 0.0))
<shapely.geometry.point.Point object at 0x...>
>>> mapping(Point(0.0, 0.0))
{'type': 'Point', 'coordinates': (0.0, 0.0)}

The Shapely version of the example in the introduction is:

>>> from shapely.geometry import shape
>>> shape(obj).buffer(1.0).area
3.1365484905459389

where obj could be a geometry object from ArcPy or PySAL, or even a mapping directly:

>>> shape({'type': 'Point', 'coordinates': (0.0, 0.0)}).buffer(1.0).area
3.1365484905459389

References

[1]	http://docs.scipy.org/doc/numpy/reference/arrays.interface.html

[2]	https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7946

[3]	https://desktop.arcgis.com/en/arcmap/latest/analyze/arcpy-functions/asshape.htm

[4]	https://bitbucket.org/sgillies/descartes/src/f97e54f3b8d4/descartes/patch.py#cl-14

[5]	http://pypi.python.org/pypi/geojson/

[6]	https://pysal.readthedocs.io/en/latest/users/tutorials/shapely.html

[7]	https://github.com/Toblerity/Shapely

sgillies/geo_interface.rst