Search code examples
rdataframeapplyraster

Loop through each row in a data frame, extract values from raster and write csv files


I have a data frame with a Name, longitude and latitude columns. I want a function that goes trough each row, extract the values from a raster stack and write csv files based on the Name column.

Name    Lon     Lat
Name1   11.11   47.87
Name2   150.1   -40.4
Name3   -50.2   -3.5
Name4   -100.3  49.8

library(raster)
s <- stack(replicate(5, {raster(matrix(runif(2160*4320), 2160), 
         xmn=-180, xmx=180, ymn=-90, ymx=90)}))

I can do that one by one:

location <- data.frame(11.11, 47.87)
ex <- extract(s, location)
write.csv(ex, "Name1.csv")

Solution

  • A very traditional method works with a for-loop

    d1 <-c("Name1", "Name2","Name3", "Name4")
    d2 <- c(11.11,150.1,-50.2,-100.3)
    d3 <-c(47.87, -40.4, -3.5, 49.8)
    data.df <-data.frame(d1,d2,d3)
    
    for(i in 1:nrow(data.df)) 
    {
      location <- data.frame(data.df[i,2],data.df[,3])
      ex <- extract(s, location)
      fn1<-paste0(data.df[i,1],".csv")
      write.csv(ex, fn1)
    }
    

    Four files are generated containing information like:

    "","layer.1","layer.2","layer.3","layer.4","layer.5"
    "1",0.471816286211833,0.115963410818949,0.399704266572371,0.464667820138857,0.820669727399945
    "2",0.616754011251032,0.354018000885844,0.602565947687253,0.86519843316637,0.660861984360963
    "3",0.0691961287520826,0.128835600335151,0.199198298621923,0.968016018159688,0.597145217470825
    

    I hope that's the result you are looking for. There might be some more advanced and performing method (based on apply-family???) and as a R beginner am interested in as well.