Current release info
| Name | Downloads | Version | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|
conda-forge feedstock
pyramids - GIS utility package
pyramids is a GIS utility package built on top of GDAL/OGR for working with raster data (GeoTIFF, NetCDF), vector data (shapefiles, GeoJSON), and multi-temporal datacubes.
pyramids-gis is licensed under GPLv3 (see LICENSE.md). The
platform wheels published on PyPI bundle GDAL and its
native dependencies (PROJ, GEOS, libtiff, NetCDF-C, HDF5, libcurl, …) — each
under its own MIT, BSD, LGPL, or Apache license. The full attribution list and
shipped license texts are documented in THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md;
if you use pyramids-gis in publications please also cite GDAL itself per
gdal.org/cite_gdal.html.
graph LR
GeoTIFF & NetCDF & Shapefile & UGRID -->|read| pyramids
subgraph pyramids
direction TB
Dataset
NetCDF_class[NetCDF]
UgridDataset
DatasetCollection
FeatureCollection
subgraph Engines["Dataset engines (ds.io · ds.spatial · ds.bands · ds.analysis · ds.cell · ds.vectorize · ds.cog)"]
end
subgraph Plotting["Plotting layer — _plot_helpers.render_array · mesh_render · NetCDFPlot · Selectors / ColourOpts / FacetSpec · basemap"]
end
end
Dataset -->|crop · reproject · align| Dataset
Dataset --- Engines
FeatureCollection -->|rasterize| Dataset
UgridDataset -->|interpolate| Dataset
Dataset -->|vectorize| FeatureCollection
DatasetCollection -->|lazy temporal stack| Dataset
NetCDF_class -->|extends| Dataset
Dataset & NetCDF_class & DatasetCollection & UgridDataset -->|plot| Plotting
Plotting -->|delegates| cleopatra(["cleopatra<br/>ArrayGlyph · MeshGlyph · tiles"])
For the class relationships, internal layers, and detailed architecture diagrams, see docs/overview/architecture.md.
Main Features
- Dataset - Read, write, crop, reproject, and align single-band and multi-band rasters (GeoTIFF)
with full no-data handling and coordinate reference system support. Public API is organized into
seven engine collaborators (
ds.io,ds.spatial,ds.bands,ds.analysis,ds.cell,ds.vectorize,ds.cog); same-named facade methods on the Dataset itself keep the short form working —ds.crop(mask)andds.spatial.crop(mask)are equivalent. - NetCDF - Extends Dataset for NetCDF files with time/variable dimensions and CF conventions metadata.
Optional xarray interoperability.
NetCDF.plotexposes an xarray-aligned plotting API (variable=+ groupedSelectors/ColourOpts/FacetSpecdataclasses, curvilinearcoords=,kind=,animate=, lazychunks=). - UgridDataset - Read and visualize UGRID-1.0 unstructured meshes (triangles, quads, mixed). Supports mesh-to-raster interpolation and mesh-to-vector export.
- DatasetCollection - Manage time-series of co-registered rasters as a lazy temporal stack (per-timestep gdal handles open on demand; the full cube is never materialised in RAM) with optional dask-backed reductions and groupby.
- FeatureCollection - Work with vector data (shapefiles, GeoJSON) through a unified GeoDataFrame and OGR DataSource interface, including rasterization and geometry operations.
- Plotting -
Dataset/NetCDF/DatasetCollection/UgridDatasetall expose aplotmethod backed by cleopatra (the[viz]extra), routed through a sharedpyramids.dataset._plot_helperscore. Optional web-tile basemap underlays viapyramids.basemap.add_basemap(a thin wrapper overcleopatra.tiles.add_tiles). - Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFF (COG) - First-class read/write/validate support via
ds.to_cog,ds.is_cog, andds.validate_cog. - Spatial operations - Align rasters to a reference grid, reproject between coordinate systems, crop to vector boundaries, and convert between raster, NetCDF, and vector formats.
Installing pyramids
Installing pyramids from the conda-forge channel can be achieved by:
conda install -c conda-forge pyramids
It is possible to list all the versions of pyramids available on your platform with:
conda search pyramids --channel conda-forge
Install from GitHub (development)
To install the latest development version, you can install the library from GitHub:
pip install git+https://github.com/serapeum-org/pyramids
Note: installing from GitHub uses the sdist and requires a pre-installed system GDAL. See the full installation guide and troubleshooting for details.
pip
To install the latest release from PyPI:
Linux + pixi: no glibc pin needed anymore
pyramids-gis ships its Linux wheels tagged manylinux_2_28 (GDAL and its native stack are compiled from source with
the manylinux toolchain). pixi's default Linux baseline is glibc 2.28 (it tracks conda-forge's floor), so the wheel
resolves out of the box — no [tool.pixi.system-requirements] entry required (verified with pixi 0.65 defaults;
newer versions, including the 0.68.1 this repo pins in CI, share the same baseline).
Two cases still need a pin in the consuming project's pyproject.toml / pixi.toml:
[tool.pixi.system-requirements] libc = "2.39" # only for the older releases that shipped manylinux_2_39 wheels (0.2x-0.39.x)
or libc = "2.28" if you run a pixi version old enough that its default baseline is still below 2.28. On Linux with
glibc < 2.28, install from conda-forge instead. See the full
installation guide and troubleshooting for the other cases.
Optional extras
pip install pyramids-gis[viz] # cleopatra plotting support
pip install xarray # to_xarray / from_xarray / to_netcdf interop (peer dep, not an extra)
Quick start
from pyramids.dataset import Dataset # Open a raster file src = Dataset.read_file("path/to/raster.tif") print(src.epsg) # coordinate reference system EPSG code print(src.cell_size) # pixel resolution print(src.shape) # (bands, rows, columns) # Read the raster data as a NumPy array arr = src.read_array() # all bands band0 = src.read_array(band=0) # one band # Spatial ops route through the spatial engine; the facade stays short reprojected = src.to_crs(to_epsg=3857) # same as src.spatial.to_crs(...)
from pyramids.netcdf import NetCDF from pyramids import Selectors, ColourOpts, FacetSpec # grouped plot options # Open a NetCDF file nc = NetCDF.read_file("path/to/data.nc") print(nc.variables) # xarray-aligned plotting (needs the [viz] extra) nc.plot("t2m", selectors=Selectors(time="2020-07-01", level=850), colour=ColourOpts(cmap="coolwarm", robust=True)) nc.plot("t2m", facet=FacetSpec(col="time", col_wrap=4)) # small multiples nc.plot("t2m", animate="time", chunks={"time": 1}) # lazy per-frame animation
from pyramids.feature import FeatureCollection # Open a vector file vector = FeatureCollection.read_file("path/to/shapefile.shp") print(vector.epsg) # CRS EPSG code print(vector.total_bounds) # (minx, miny, maxx, maxy)
from pyramids.dataset import DatasetCollection # Build a lazy stack of co-registered rasters (no pixels read yet) cube = DatasetCollection.from_files(["a.tif", "b.tif", "c.tif"]) print(cube.time_length, cube.shape) # Reductions over the time axis use dask under the hood mean = cube.mean() # nan-aware by default
Testing
This project uses pixi as the environment and task manager.
# Install dependencies and create dev environment pixi install -e dev # Run all tests (excluding plot tests) pixi run -e dev main # Run plot tests only pixi run -e dev plot # Run a specific test file pixi run -e dev pytest tests/netcdf/test_dimensions.py -v # Run a single test by node id pixi run -e dev pytest tests/netcdf/test_dimensions.py::TestStripBraces::test_with_braces -q
Docker
A Dockerfile is provided to run pyramids-gis in a controlled environment with the correct GDAL stack preinstalled via conda-forge. The image uses a multi-stage pixi build for a minimal production container.
Build the image:
docker build -t pyramids-gis:latest .
Run the container (mount your current folder as /workspace):
docker run --rm -it -v ${PWD}:/workspace pyramids-gis:latest bash
Inside the container you can verify the package is installed:
python -c "import pyramids; print('pyramids', pyramids.__version__)"

