Shapely

Shapely is a Python package for manipulating and analysing two-dimensional geometric shapes. Since version 2.0 it has included the function from_ragged_array which is ideally suited to create Shapely geometries from contours created by ContourPy.

Contour lines to Shapely

Contour lines with a line type of LineType.ChunkCombinedOffset are easily converted to Shapely geometries using shapely.from_ragged_array.

Here is the same example from the Line type section of the User Guide:

>>> from contourpy import contour_generator
>>> z = [[1.4, 1.2, 0.9, 0], [0.6, 3, 0.4, 0.7], [0.2, 0.2, 0.5, 3]]
>>> cont_gen = contour_generator(z=z, line_type="ChunkCombinedOffset")
>>> lines = cont_gen.lines(0.5)
>>> lines
([array([[0.58, 1.], [1., 0.44], [1.38, 1.], [1., 1.36], [0.58, 1.], [2.6, 2.], [3., 1.57]])],
 [array([0, 5, 7], dtype=uint32)])

This has a single chunk containing one array of points and one array of offsets. To create Shapely LineString geometries for this single chunk:

>>> from shapely import GeometryType, from_ragged_array, unary_union
>>> points, offsets = lines[0][0], lines[1][0]
>>> linestrings = from_ragged_array(GeometryType.LINESTRING, points, (offsets,))
>>> linestrings
[<LINESTRING (2.444 0, 2 0.8, 1.962 1, 1 1.893, 0 1.25)>
 <LINESTRING (2 2, 2.333 1, 3 0.714)>]

where linestrings is a NumPy array of two Shapely LineStrings. To create a Shapely MultiLineString instead you can either use shapely.unary_union on the LineStrings:

>>> multilinestring = unary_union(linestrings)
>>> multilinestring
MULTILINESTRING ((2.444 0, 2 0.8, 1.962 1, 1 1.893, 0 1.25), (2 2, 2.333 1, 3 0.714))

or create them directly from the ContourPy lines using:

>>> multilinestrings = from_ragged_array(GeometryType.MULTILINESTRING,
...                                      points, (offsets, [0, len(offsets)-1]))
>>> multilinestrings
[<MULTILINESTRING ((2.444 0, 2 0.8, 1.962 1, 1 1.893, 0 1.25), (2 2, 2.333 1,...>]

The shapely.unary_union approach returns a single MultiLineString whereas this approach returns a NumPy array containing the single MultiLineString.

Note

If your contour lines have a different line type then you can convert them using convert_lines(). If you have more than one chunk you can combine them using dechunk_lines() or iterate over the chunks, convert one chunk at a time and then combine the geometries.

Filled contours to Shapely

Filled contours with a fill type of FillType.ChunkCombinedOffsetOffset are easily converted to Shapely geometries using shapely.from_ragged_array.

Here is the same example from the Fill type section of the User Guide:

>>> from contourpy import contour_generator
>>> z = [[1.4, 1.2, 0.9, 0], [0.6, 3, 0.4, 0.7], [0.2, 0.2, 0.5, 3]]
>>> cont_gen = contour_generator(z=z, fill_type="ChunkCombinedOffsetOffset")
>>> filled = cont_gen.filled(1, 2)
>>> filled
([array([[0., 0.], [1., 0.], [1.67, 0.], [1.77, 1.], [1., 1.71], [0.17, 1.], [0., 0.5],
         [0., 0.], [1., 0.44], [0.58, 1.], [1., 1.36], [1.38, 1.], [1., 0.44], [2.2 , 2.],
         [3., 1.13], [3., 1.57], [2.6, 2.], [2.2, 2.]])],
 [array([0, 8, 13, 18], dtype=uint32)],
 [array([0, 2, 3], dtype=uint32)])

This has a single chunk containing one array of points and two arrays of offsets which are the boundary offsets and the polygon (outer boundary) offsets. To create Shapely Polygon geometries for this single chunk:

>>> from shapely import GeometryType, from_ragged_array, unary_union
>>> points, offsets, outer_offsets = filled[0][0], filled[1][0], filled[2][0]
>>> polygons = from_ragged_array(GeometryType.POLYGON, points, (offsets, outer_offsets))
[<POLYGON ((0 0, 1 0, 1.667 0, 1.769 1, 1 1.714, 0.167 1, 0 0.5, 0 0), (1 0.4...>
 <POLYGON ((2.2 2, 3 1.13, 3 1.565, 2.6 2, 2.2 2))>]

where polygons is a NumPy array of two Shapely Polygons. To create a Shapely MultiPolygon instead you can either use shapely.unary_union on the Polygons:

>>> multipolygon = unary_union(polygons)
>>> multipolygon
<MULTIPOLYGON (((0 0, 1 0, 1.667 0, 1.769 1, 1 1.714, 0.167 1, 0 0.5, 0 0), ...>

or create them directly from the ContourPy filled using:

>>> multipolygons = from_ragged_array(GeometryType.MULTIPOLYGON,
...                                   points,
...                                   (offsets, outer_offsets, [0, len(outer_offsets)-1]))
>>> multipolygons
[<MULTIPOLYGON (((0 0, 1 0, 1.667 0, 1.769 1, 1 1.714, 0.167 1, 0 0.5, 0 0), ...>]

The shapely.unary_union approach returns a single MultiPolygon whereas this approach returns a NumPy array containing the single MultiPolygon.

Note

If your filled contours have a different line type then you can convert them using convert_filled(). If you have more than one chunk you can combine them using dechunk_filled() or iterate over the chunks, convert one chunk at a time and then combine the geometries.

Example use of Shapely geometries

As an example of what can be done with Shapely geometries, consider the single multipolygon created above. You can calculate the area

>>> multipolygon.area
2.143832

the bounding box

>>> multipolygon.bounds
bounds (0.0, 0.0, 3.0, 2.0)

and whether it contains particular points or not

>>> from shapely import Point
>>> multipolygon.contains(Point(2, 1))
False
>>> multipolygon.contains(Point(1.5, 1))
True

Note

You can use the polygons instead of the multipolygon here but first you will need to convert the array to a shapely.GeometryCollection first using:

>>> from shapely import GeometryCollection
>>> polygons = GeometryCollection(list(polygons))