Code to take a spreadsheet with a varitey of lat/long formulas and make them decimal values, then write fixed CSV

fix_latlon.py

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
import pandas as pd
import LatLon as latlon
import re

from LatLon import string2latlon

# Requires: pandas, LatLon, py2.7

def makefloatlat(data):
    '''Take any of the hms formats and produce a floating point value
    expressed as a string'''

    # String my data
    string = str(data)

    # REs
    remove_chars = re.compile(r'[\s,]')
    hemisphere_chars = re.compile(r'([NSEWnsew])')

    # N.B. Smart quotes and normal quote marks both grabbed (see utf-8 dec above)
    degree_chars = re.compile(r'([\'\"°″′])')

    # lat_lon patterns in LatLon format (https://pypi.python.org/pypi/LatLon)
    dms = 'd% %m% %S% %H'
    dm = 'd% %m% %H'
    degree = 'D% %H'


    # Now make them standard to three patterns by dropping spaces, and then
    # splitting with commas on hemisphere_chars

    # Remove notation
    string = re.sub(remove_chars, '', string)
    # notate with a comma after the hemisphere chars
    string = re.sub(hemisphere_chars, r' \1,', string)
    # Substitute spaces for degree chars
    string = re.sub(degree_chars, ' ', string)
    # clean up stray comma introduced above
    string = string.strip(',')

    # Clear stray space cruft from re.sub
    while '  ' in string:
        string = string.replace('  ', ' ')

    # split into lat, lon
    lat, lon = string.split(',')


    # Thankfully the degree of specificity is the same

    # i.e. "12 34 56 N"
    if len(lat.split()) > 3:
        location = string2latlon(lat, lon, dms)
    # i.e. "12 34 N"
    elif len(lat.split()) > 2:
        location = string2latlon(lat, lon, dm)
    # i.e. "12.34 N"
    else:
        location = string2latlon(lat, lon, degree)
    return ', '.join(str(i) for i in location.to_string('D'))

# Load the CSV as a pandas df
df = pd.read_csv('Chesapeake-Leopard-Resolutions.csv')

# Drop rows with blanks using pandas drop NA
df = df.dropna()

# apply makefloatlat() to the column 'lat/long'
df['lat/long'] = df['lat/long'].apply(makefloatlat)

# Write a fixed CSV
df.to_csv(path_or_buf='Chesapeake-Leopard-Resolutions-fixedlatlon.csv')