Resampling

For details on changing coordinate reference systems, see Reprojection.

Up and downsampling

Resampling refers to changing the cell values due to changes in the raster cell grid. This can occur during reprojection. Even if the projection is not changing, we may want to change the effective cell size of an existing dataset.

Upsampling refers to cases where we are converting to higher resolution/smaller cells. Downsampling is resampling to lower resolution/larger cellsizes.

By reading from a raster source into an output array of a different size or by specifying an out_shape of a different size you are effectively resampling the data.

Here is an example of upsampling by a factor of 2 using the bilinear resampling method.

import rasterio
from rasterio.enums import Resampling

upscale_factor = 2

with rasterio.open("example.tif") as dataset:

    # resample data to target shape
    data = dataset.read(
        out_shape=(
            dataset.count,
            int(dataset.height * upscale_factor),
            int(dataset.width * upscale_factor)
        ),
        resampling=Resampling.bilinear
    )

    # scale image transform
    transform = dataset.transform * dataset.transform.scale(
        (dataset.width / data.shape[-1]),
        (dataset.height / data.shape[-2])
    )

Downsampling to 1/2 of the resolution can be done with upscale_factor = 1/2.

Resampling Methods

When you change the raster cell grid, you must recalculate the pixel values. There is no “correct” way to do this as all methods involve some interpolation.

The current resampling methods can be found in the rasterio.enums.Resampling class.

Of note, the default nearest method may not be suitable for continuous data. In those cases, bilinear and cubic are better suited. Some specialized statistical resampling method exist, e.g. average, which may be useful when certain numerical properties of the data are to be retained.