Overview - Spatial Operations#

Working with spatial data isn’t just about what features exist — it’s also about how they relate to each other in space.

In this module, you’ll explore the core spatial operations that allow you to analyze, combine, and compare geographic objects based on their shapes and locations. From checking whether geometries touch or intersect, to combining data across layers using spatial joins, this part of the course gives you powerful tools for working with real-world spatial relationships.

You’ll also learn how to summarize spatial data by aggregating it by region or category — essential for creating clean, interpretable results from complex geodata.

This lesson includes:

  1. Basic Instruments
    Get hands-on with foundational geometry tools in GeoPandas, such as calculating centroids, bounding boxes, and buffers.

  2. Geometric Predicates and Spatial Joins
    Learn how to test spatial relationships like intersects, contains, or within, and how to join datasets based on spatial overlap or proximity.

  3. Data Aggregation
    Practice grouping and summarizing spatial data — for example, calculating total area or counting features within administrative boundaries.

Learning Goals#

After this lesson, you should be able to:

  • Use basic geometry tools in GeoPandas to manipulate and describe spatial features (e.g. centroids, area, bounds, buffers).

  • Apply geometric predicates to compare spatial objects and evaluate their spatial relationships.

  • Perform spatial joins to combine data based on location — for example, linking points to the polygons they fall within.

  • Aggregate spatial data by regions or categories using groupby operations to create summaries like total counts, average values, or summed areas.

Survey - Self Assesment#

Before each module, we ask you a few quick questions (under 2 minutes) to see what you already know. This helps us track progress and tailor upcoming modules for different learner levels.

The survey is supposed to be shown below if not, click here to take the survey

Thank you for your time!