I want to automate the creation of boundary polygons from vector files. This is not footprint or extent creation (I already have scripts to do this). I want to create a tool similar to the QGIS, Image Boundary plugin which creates a single polygon which describes only the areas which have data. It should work on points/lines and polygons. For the points/lines, I guess it would need to create a buffer and then use that in generating a multipart boundary polygon (so it won't be exact but based on the buffer you set).
The purpose to use the output in a metadata catalogue where when you click on a location you only see a list of all files which have data in that spot and not just that the extent/footprint is within.
I found a tool from a post here that claims to do this but it is circa 2008 and isn't python based- http://blog.shoutis.org/2008/10/announcement-boundary-generator-v-01.html
An opensource QGIS/GDAL solution would be ideal but arcpy is fine as well.
Best Answer
It isn't the Convex Hull (Minimum Convex Polygon) the tool you need? It is available in QGIS in the "vector" menu.