Learning about Geospatial Analysis with Python
This chapter is an overview of geospatial analysis. We will see how geospatial technology is currently impacting our world by looking at a case study of one of the worst pandemics the world has ever seen and how geospatial analysis helped track the spread of the disease to buy researchers time to create a vaccine. Next, we’ll step through the history of geospatial analysis, which predates computers and even paper maps! Then, we’ll examine why you might want to learn a programming language as a geospatial analyst as opposed to just using Geographic Information System (GIS) applications. We’ll realize the importance of making geospatial analysis as accessible as possible to the broadest number of people. Then, we’ll step through basic GIS and remote sensing concepts and terminology that will stay with you through the rest of this book. Finally, we’ll start using Python for geospatial analysis by building the simplest possible GIS from scratch!
Here’s a quick overview of the topics we’ll be covering in this chapter:
- Geospatial analysis and our world
- History of geospatial analysis
- Evolution of Geographic Information Systems (GISs)
- Remote sensing concepts
- Point cloud data
- Computer-aided drafting
- Geospatial analysis and computer programming
- The importance of geospatial analysis
- GIS concepts
- Common GIS processes
- Common remote sensing processes
- Common raster data concepts
- Creating the simplest possible Python GIS
By the end of this chapter, you will understand geospatial analysis as a way of answering questions about our world and the differences between GIS and remote sensing.
