geoarrow-pandas

What it is and what it does

geoarrow-pandas bridges GeoArrow geometry data with the pandas and pyarrow ecosystem. It registers pyarrow extension types so that coordinate reference systems (CRS) and geometry type metadata survive I/O operations on Arrow-native formats like Parquet and Arrow IPC files. The package provides utilities to read and write GeoParquet files, convert to and from geopandas GeoDataFrames, and perform coordinate transformations between WKT (well-known text), WKB (well-known binary), and native GeoArrow encodings.

The package is built on top of geoarrow-pyarrow and adds pandas-specific integration. It includes compute functions for common geometry operations (e.g., formatting to WKT) and tools for constructing GeoArrow arrays from buffers or existing geometry sources. The main use case is working with large geographic datasets in columnar format without the memory overhead of traditional GeoDataFrame representations.

Use it for:

• Load large geographic datasets from GeoParquet files into pyarrow tables while preserving CRS metadata.
• Convert between geopandas GeoDataFrames and Arrow-native formats for memory-efficient processing.
• Transform coordinate encodings (WKT ↔ WKB ↔ GeoArrow) for interoperability with other geospatial tools.
• Read geographic data directly from Arrow IPC streams with geometry type and CRS information intact.
• Construct GeoArrow arrays programmatically from coordinate buffers for custom geometry pipelines.

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

Integrates GeoArrow geometry data with pandas and pyarrow, enabling efficient I/O to Arrow-friendly formats and coordinate transformations between WKT, WKB, and GeoArrow encodings.

Yes, if you work with geographic data in Arrow or Parquet formats and need to preserve geometry metadata through I/O operations. The low install friction and permissive license make it a safe addition. However, note that the package itself has not been updated since October 2023—check whether active development has consolidated into geoarrow-pyarrow before adopting it for new projects.

Install

geoarrow-pandas on PyPI

pip install geoarrow-pandas

uv add geoarrow-pandas

poetry add geoarrow-pandas

Installing geoarrow-pandas

Before you install

Low friction: pure Python wheel with only three runtime dependencies (geoarrow-pyarrow, pandas, pyarrow). Package is aging—last release was October 2023, though the underlying repository remains active with recent commits.

License in practice

Apache-2.0 permissive license allows commercial and private use with minimal restrictions; you must include a copy of the license and note any modifications.

Quickstart

pip install geoarrow-pandas

import geoarrow.pyarrow as ga
import pyarrow as pa

# Read Arrow IPC file with GeoArrow extension types preserved
with pa.ipc.open_stream(file) as reader:
    tab = reader.read_all()

# Convert to geopandas
df = ga.to_geopandas(tab)

Requires Python >= 3.8; pyarrow and geoarrow-pyarrow must be installed first.

Verify before relying

• Whether geoarrow-pandas is actively maintained or if development has moved to geoarrow-pyarrow.
• Whether this package is intended as a standalone entry point or primarily as a convenience wrapper.

Package facts

Evidence: geoarrow_pandas-0.1.1-py3-none-any.whl

Tags

More Scientific/Engineering packages