FABDEM

Download FABDEM data: a DEM with forests and buildings removed using ML.

FABDEM homepage: https://data.bris.ac.uk/data/dataset/s5hqmjcdj8yo2ibzi9b4ew3sn

Installation

To install the package using pip

pip install fabdem

Usage

FABDEM can be used either as a Python library or from the command line.

Python library

Import the package and call download() with geographic bounds in EPSG:4326:

import fabdem

bounds = (1, 30, 5, 35)
fabdem.download(bounds, output_path="dem.tif")

The bounds tuple is:

(west, south, east, north)

Example:

import fabdem

bounds = (35.35, -1.49, 36.48, -0.23)
fabdem.download(bounds, output_path="narok_dem.tif")

output_path may point to any raster format supported by GDAL, such as .tif.

Optional arguments

You can also control caching and progress display:

import fabdem
from pathlib import Path

bounds = (35.35, -1.49, 36.48, -0.23)
fabdem.download(
    bounds,
    output_path="narok_dem.tif",
    cache=Path("./fabdem-cache"),
    show_progress=True,
)

Common keyword arguments:

• bounds: (west, south, east, north) in longitude/latitude.
• output_path: output raster path.
• cache: optional directory used to store downloaded ZIP archives and extracted tiles.
• show_progress: show progress output in terminal or notebook.

In notebooks

In Jupyter notebooks, progress output uses an ipywidgets widget to avoid flickering from repeated cell output refreshes. If ipywidgets is not available, the code falls back to plain text output and logs a warning.

Command-line interface

The module can also be run directly from the command line.

Basic usage:

python fabdem.py WEST SOUTH EAST NORTH OUTPUT_PATH

Example:

python fabdem.py 35.35 -1.49 36.48 -0.23 narok_dem.tif

With optional arguments:

python fabdem.py 35.35 -1.49 36.48 -0.23 narok_dem.tif \
    --cache ./fabdem-cache \
    --log-level INFO

Available CLI options:

• --cache PATH: use a custom cache directory.
• --hide-progress: disable progress output.
• --clear-cache: clear the selected cache before downloading.
• --log-level {DEBUG,INFO,WARNING,ERROR,CRITICAL}: configure logging verbosity.

You can also inspect the built-in help:

python fabdem.py --help

Notes

• Coordinates must be given in EPSG:4326 longitude/latitude.
• The package automatically determines which FABDEM tiles intersect the requested bounds.
• Downloaded data may be reused from cache when available.
• The output raster is created by merging all intersecting tiles for the requested area.

Development

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/jantomec/fabdem.git
cd fabdem

2. Create and activate an environment

2.1 Using conda

conda env create -f fabdem.yml
conda activate fabdem

If the environment already exists, update it instead:

conda env update -f fabdem.yml --prune
conda activate fabdem

2.2 Using venv on macOS or Linux

python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate

2.3 Using venv on Windows

python -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\activate

3. Install the package in editable mode

With flit:

flit install --symlink

4. Publish to PyPI:

flit publish

TODO:

• Create a conda-forge package.
• Download only part of a zip.
• Add a CLI tool

Resources:

• Python Packaging
• TOML Format
• flit
• PEP 8 - Naming Conventions
• PEP 484 – Type Hints
• conda-forge