Write Numpy Array to Raster File – Converting Numpy Arrays to Raster Format

gdalnumpypythonraster

I'm new to GIS.

I have some code that converts infrared images of Mars into thermal inertia maps, which are then stored as 2D numpy arrays. I've been saving these maps as hdf5 files but I'd really like to save them as raster images so that I can process them in QGIS. I've gone through multiple searches to find how to do this but with no luck. I've tried following the instructions in the tutorial at http://www.gis.usu.edu/~chrisg/python/ but the files I produce using his example code open as plain grey boxes when I import them to QGIS. I feel like if someone could suggest the simplest possible procedure to a simplified example of what I'd like to do then I might be able to make some progress. I have QGIS and GDAL, I'd be very happy to install other frameworks that anyone could recommend. I use Mac OS 10.7.

So if for example I have a numpy array of thermal inertia that looks like:

TI = ( (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4),
       (0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5),
       (0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6),
       (0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7) )

And for each pixel I have the latitude and longitude:

lat = ( (10.0, 10.0, 10.0, 10.0),
        ( 9.5,  9.5,  9.5,  9.5),
        ( 9.0,  9.0,  9.0,  9.0),
        ( 8.5,  8.5,  8.5,  8.5) )
lon = ( (20.0, 20.5, 21.0, 21.5),
        (20.0, 20.5, 21.0, 21.5),
        (20.0, 20.5, 21.0, 21.5),
        (20.0, 20.5, 21.0, 21.5) )

Which procedure would people recommend to convert this data into a raster file that I can open in QGIS?

Best Answer

Below is an example that I wrote for a workshop that utilizes the numpy and gdal Python modules. It reads data from one .tif file into a numpy array, does a reclass of the values in the array and then writes it back out to a .tif.

From your explanation, it sounds like you might have succeeded in writing out a valid file, but you just need to symbolize it in QGIS. If I remember correctly, when you first add a raster, it often shows up all one color if you don't have a pre-existing color map.

import numpy, sys
from osgeo import gdal
from osgeo.gdalconst import *


# register all of the GDAL drivers
gdal.AllRegister()

# open the image
inDs = gdal.Open("c:/workshop/examples/raster_reclass/data/cropland_40.tif")
if inDs is None:
  print 'Could not open image file'
  sys.exit(1)

# read in the crop data and get info about it
band1 = inDs.GetRasterBand(1)
rows = inDs.RasterYSize
cols = inDs.RasterXSize

cropData = band1.ReadAsArray(0,0,cols,rows)

listAg = [1,5,6,22,23,24,41,42,28,37]
listNotAg = [111,195,141,181,121,122,190,62]

# create the output image
driver = inDs.GetDriver()
#print driver
outDs = driver.Create("c:/workshop/examples/raster_reclass/output/reclass_40.tif", cols, rows, 1, GDT_Int32)
if outDs is None:
    print 'Could not create reclass_40.tif'
    sys.exit(1)

outBand = outDs.GetRasterBand(1)
outData = numpy.zeros((rows,cols), numpy.int16)


for i in range(0, rows):
    for j in range(0, cols):

    if cropData[i,j] in listAg:
        outData[i,j] = 100
    elif cropData[i,j] in listNotAg:
        outData[i,j] = -100
    else:
        outData[i,j] = 0


# write the data
outBand.WriteArray(outData, 0, 0)

# flush data to disk, set the NoData value and calculate stats
outBand.FlushCache()
outBand.SetNoDataValue(-99)

# georeference the image and set the projection
outDs.SetGeoTransform(inDs.GetGeoTransform())
outDs.SetProjection(inDs.GetProjection())

del outData
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