Pandana

Pandana

A Python/Pandas library for data aggregations on a network

Pandana was created as part of my dissertation which is work done with Paul Waddell as advisor. Most of the polish of the library was done by Matt Davis (@jiffyclub) for work done at Synthicity.

Pandana is a neoligism for Pandas Network Analysis, which follows somewhat the kinds of functionality provided in ESRI's network analyst, but with a Pandas-style interface. Basically, the user of the library can do aggregations along the network of any kind of spatially located data.

For instance, once you've inititalized the network, you can set data in relation to that network, like the income of all people in a city. You can then do buffers around each street intersection in the network and do any kind of aggregation, e.g. the 70th percentile income within 3kms, or the sum of jobs within 45 minutes ride via transit (assuming you have a network of transit lines).

The real power of this approach is twofold.

It's worth mentioning there are two modes of operation. The one described above, which aggregates data, and the second, with is the Nth nearest point (a network nearest neighbor), such as can be used to construct a customized WalkScore-type algorithm.

Pandana is currently in active use by multiple MPOs. If you are one of these MPOs and have a good example to post, send it to me and I will update this blog post.

Credits and resources: