Python – Modules for Latitude and Longitude Calculations in Python

Question

I'm looking for a Python module that can provide some / all of the following services using latitude/longitude to define points:

Distance between two points
Point in polygon 
Distance along a multi-point path 
Identifier of closest point from a dict of points with identifiers 
Distance from a point to each point in a dict containing points with identifiers
etc

You get the idea… Any suggestions?

Answer 1

You can use the GDAL Python bindings. Examples on how to use it can you find here.

For example you create points with lat/lon like this

from osgeo import ogr                   # first import the library
point1 = ogr.Geometry(ogr.wkbPoint)
point1.AddPoint(13.381348,52.536273)    # Berlin

point2 = ogr.Geometry(ogr.wkbPoint)
point2.AddPoint(11.557617,48.136767)    # Munich

Create a transformation from EPSG:4326 (lat/long) to EPSG:3035 (Projected coordinate system for Europe in meters)

inSpatialRef = osr.SpatialReference()
inSpatialRef.ImportFromEPSG(4326)
outSpatialRef = osr.SpatialReference()
outSpatialRef.ImportFromEPSG(3035)
coordTransform = osr.CoordinateTransformation(inSpatialRef, outSpatialRef)

Transform our points

point1.Transform(coordTransform)
>> POINT (4550348.379724434576929 3275002.535206703934819 0) 

point2.Transform(coordTransform)
>>POINT (4436977.705661337822676 2781579.793173507787287 0)

And get the distance like this

point1.Distance(point2)             # Distance in meter from Munich to Berlin
>>> 506279.480221                   # roughly 506 km

Or you can create a polygon

ring = ogr.Geometry(ogr.wkbLinearRing)
ring.AddPoint(-23.378906,68.974164)     # North West Corner of Europe
ring.AddPoint(-23.378906,34.307144)     # South West Corner of Europe
ring.AddPoint(31.464844,34.307144)      # South East Corner of Europe
ring.AddPoint(31.464844,68.974164)      # North East Corner of Europe
ring.AddPoint(-23.378906,68.974164)     # North West Corner of Europe (to close to polygon)

polygon = ogr.Geometry(ogr.wkbPolygon)  
polygon.AddGeometry(ring)               # rough bounding box around Europe
polygon.Transform(coordTransform)       # transform it

And check if the polygon contains the point

polygon.Contains(point1)                    # Does Europe contain Berlin?
>>> True                                    # It does ;)

And for the rest you can write functions to do what you want.