Proximity Analysis

Introduction

The application of proximity analysis principles spans an impressive array of practical scenarios. For example, it assists in identifying service areas within a set distance from a specific point of interest, determining the nearest hospital or emergency service to an accident site, and even predicting the spread of diseases or wildfires based on geographic proximity.

In this lesson, we'll concentrate primarily on two fundamental operations within proximity analysis: calculating distances and identifying the nearest features.

Note: It's important to note that, in order to perform any distance analysis, it is suggested to avoid unprojected data (e.g., latitude and longitude) as distances are best not measured in degrees. Consider projecting to a coordinate system with a linear unit in feet or meters, for example.

Calculating distances

In GeoPandas, distance computation is provided at the ...