{ "cells": [ { "cell_type": "markdown", "metadata": {}, "source": [ "# Shapefiles 1: Intro to Shapefiles" ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "metadata": {}, "source": [ "## Overview:\n", "1. Read in the state/province Natural Earth shapefile\n", "2. Explore the shapefile using GeoPandas\n", "3. Plot the shapefile on a map and overlay with other Natural Earth shapefiles" ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "metadata": {}, "source": [ "## Prerequisites\n", "\n", "| Concepts | Importance | Notes |\n", "| --- | --- | --- |\n", "| Pandas| Necessary | |\n", "| Cartopy| Necessary | |\n", "\n", "* **Time to learn**: 30 minutes\n", "***" ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "metadata": {}, "source": [ "## What is a **shapefile**?" ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "metadata": {}, "source": [ "From [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shapefile):\n", ">The shapefile format is a geospatial vector data format for geographic information system (GIS) software. It is developed and regulated by Esri as a mostly open specification for data interoperability among Esri and other GIS software products. The shapefile format can spatially describe vector features: points, lines, and polygons, representing, for example, water wells, rivers, and lakes. Each item usually has attributes that describe it, such as name or temperature." ] }, { "cell_type": "markdown", "metadata": {}, "source": [ "
admin
column. We can chain together Pandas` methods such as sort_values
and unique
to show all of the countries included in the shapefile.\n",
"import cartopy.io.shapereader as shpreader
statement.\n",
".with_scale('5m')
to USCOUNTIES
.\n",
"