GeoPandas Is Amazing (But Not for Everything) (Bonus #33)

Spatial Stack with Matt Forrest

GeoPandas is one of the most important tools in modern GIS, but many people still aren’t sure when to use it, why it matters, or where it fits alongside tools like PostGIS, DuckDB, Apache Sedona, and cloud-native data formats.

In this video, I break down GeoPandas from the ground up: what it is, how it works under the hood, its strengths and limitations, and when to choose something else. If you’ve ever worked in ArcGIS or QGIS and wondered how to bring those same workflows into Python, this is the perfect place to start.

What we cover in this video:

- What GeoPandas actually does (How it extends Pandas, adds geometry types, reads vector formats, and integrates tools like Shapely, Fiona, PyProj, GeoArrow, and GeoParquet)
- Why GeoPandas matters in modern GIS
- When GeoPandas is the right tool
- When NOT to use GeoPandas
- How GeoPandas fits into the modern stack (How it pairs with DuckDB, SedonaDB, PostGIS, Apache Sedona (Spark), data lakes, Iceberg, and cloud-native geospatial)
- How to actually get started

This video is for you if you are a:

• GIS professionals moving into Python
• Data scientists adding spatial capabilities
• Engineers exploring geospatial data stacks
• Anyone who wants a modern alternative to desktop GIS workflows

Resources from the video

- My GeoPandas Course: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mWgVVH_dos
- GeoPandas Documentation: https://geopandas.org/en/stable/getting_started/introduction.html
- Dr. Qiusheng Wu's New Book on Geospatial Python: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FFW34LL3

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0:00 Intro to GeoPandas
0:35 What is GeoPandas
2:54 Why should you care about GeoPandas?
5:12 Do you need to use GeoPandas?
8:22 How do you use GeoPandas?
10:59 Pitfalls of GeoPandas
13:06 When NOT to use GeoPandas?
14:50 Where to learn about GeoPandas?

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