BioNet Atlas Text file to Shapefile Converter

This script provides a GUI for converting the RAW data output (.txt) from BioNet Atlas species sightings records into an ESRI Shapefile format.

It also cleans and creates a new text file, and renames all files adding CRS and date e.g.: Atlas_records_abcdefg_EPSG7856_20240226.txt

I used wxPython to make an execxutable, just message me if you want a copy. Or you can run it using python BioNet_Atlas_txt2SHP.py.

1. GUI Setup:

   • The script utilizes the tkinter library to create a GUI window titled "BioNet Atlas Text file to Shapefile Converter".
   • It includes widgets such as labels, entry fields, buttons, and a Combobox for EPSG selection.

2. File Selection:

   • Users can select a text file using the "Browse" button. Only .txt files are accepted.
   • The selected file path is displayed in an entry field.

3. EPSG Selection:

   • Users can choose an EPSG code from a Combobox. Default selection is EPSG code 28356.

4. Processing:

   • Upon clicking the "Run, fly, or swim" button, the script processes the selected text file.
   • It checks if the file ends with .txt. If not, it displays an error message.
   • If the file is valid, it removes the first four lines and extracts data to convert to a shapefile.
   • The extracted data is then saved to a shapefile, TXT file, and CSV file using the selected EPSG code and the current date appended to the file names.

5. Error Handling:

   • Any errors that occur during processing are caught and displayed in both the console and a message box.

6. Functions:

   • select_input_file(): Opens a file dialog for selecting a text file.
   • process_file(): Initiates the file processing sequence.
   • remove_first_four_lines_and_convert(): Removes the first four lines of the input file, extracts relevant data, and saves it to a shapefile.
   • save_to_txt(): Saves processed data to a TXT file.
   • save_to_csv(): Saves processed data to a CSV file.

7. Dependencies:

   • The script relies on the geopandas, shapely.geometry, and tkinter libraries for spatial data processing and GUI creation.

8. Execution:

   • The script starts the application by running the main event loop (app.mainloop()), allowing users to interact with the GUI.