How to convert a GEOS MultiLineString to Polygon using Python?

Question

I am developing a GeoDjango application where users can upload map files and do some basic mapping operations like querying features inside polygons.

I recognized that users happen to upload "MultiLineString"s instead of "Polygon"s sometimes. This causes the queries expecting closed geometries to fail.

What is the best way to convert a MultiLineString object to a Polygon in Python?

Thanks.

-- oMat

Answer 1

Hehe, at first I wrote this:

def close_geometry(self, geometry):
   if geometry.empty or geometry[0].empty:
       return geometry # empty

   if(geometry[-1][-1] == geometry[0][0]):
       return geometry  # already closed

   result = None
   for linestring in geom:
      if result is None:
          resultstring = linestring.clone()
      else:
          resultstring.extend(linestring.coords)

   geom = Polygon(resultstring)

   return geom

but then I discovered that there is a nifty little method called convex_hull that does the polygon conversion for you automatically.

>>> s1 = LineString((0, 0), (1, 1), (1, 2), (0, 1))
>>> s1.convex_hull
<Polygon object at ...>
>>> s1.convex_hull.coords
(((0.0, 0.0), (0.0, 1.0), (1.0, 2.0), (1.0, 1.0), (0.0, 0.0)),)

>>> m1=MultiLineString(s1)
>>> m1.convex_hull
<Polygon object at...>
>>> m1.convex_hull.coords
(((0.0, 0.0), (0.0, 1.0), (1.0, 2.0), (1.0, 1.0), (0.0, 0.0)),)