Python Bend Dynamics - pyBenD

pyBenD, which stands for Python Bend Dynamics, is a Python package dedicated to meandering system morphodynamic analysis.

pyBenD consists in:

  • a data structure that stores individual channel centerlines and successive centerlines of a same channel migrating over time from various input file format (csv, kml, etc.)

  • tools that automatically detect meander bends and characteristics points such as inflection points, bend apex, or bend center

  • tools to compute meander bend morphometric parameters

  • tools to compute channel lateral migration rates

  • tools to compute meander bend kinematics parameters.

Note

If you use pyBenD, please cite one of the related papers and/or its reference on Zenodo:

Installation

To install pyBenD, you may either clone the GitHub repository or download an archive in zip or tar.gz format. In both cases, it is recommended to use a virtual Python environment.

From pyBenD GitHub repository, run the following commands:

  • using pip and a virtual environment:

cd path/to/install/dir/
git clone https://github.com/martin-lemay/pyBenD.git
cd pyBenD
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ./

  • using conda:

cd path/to/install/dir/
git clone https://github.com/martin-lemay/pyBenD.git
cd pyBenD
conda activate venv
conda install ./

If you downloaded an archive, install the package from the following commands (replace PATH/TO/pyBenD-1.0.0.zip to the actual path to the downloaded archive):

  • using pip (where .venv is your virtual environment directory):

source .venv/bin/activate
pip install PATH/TO/pyBenD-1.0.0.zip

  • using conda (where venv is the name of an existing conda virtual environment):

conda activate venv
conda install PATH/TO/pyBenD-1.0.0.zip

Testing

You can test pyBenD package using pytest (see the homepage).

  • To test the source distribution, run the following commands from pyBenD root directory:

pytest ./

  • To test the installed package, run the following commands:

pytest --pyargs pybend

Contributing

Contributions are welcome — bug reports, feature requests, docs improvements, and code changes.

Workflow (issues + PR/MR)

  • Create an issue first to describe the bug / enhancement (with a minimal

    reproducible example when relevant).

  • Create a Pull Request / Merge Request that addresses one issue.

    • Reference the issue in the PR description (e.g. Fixes #123).

    • Keep changes focused and include tests/docs updates when applicable.

Local setup

pip install -e .[dev,test]

If you plan to build the docs locally, install the doc build dependencies as well:

pip install -r requirements.txt

Formatting, linting, typing, tests

Run these from the repository root:

# Format
ruff format .

# Lint (optionally auto-fix)
ruff check .
ruff check --fix .

# Type-check
mypy .

# Tests
pytest

# To mirror CI more closely (includes doctests)
pytest ./ --doctest-modules

Build the docs locally

python -m sphinx -b html docs docs/_build/html

Then open docs/_build/html/index.html in your browser.

What is checked in CI

On each Pull Request, GitHub Actions runs:

  • ruff check (lint; currently non-blocking in CI)

  • mypy (static type checks)

  • pytest (tests + doctests)

  • sphinx (documentation build)

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