speed up data extraction from large arrays

[blackdevil]

hi,

I have three arrays with variable values from a netCDF file. xy contains the vectors for the lon and lat coordinates. I am extracting the coordinates out of the two arrays (lon, lat) according to the vectors in the xy array. So far, I get the correct results, but the speed of the extraction process (for-loop) is extremely poor!!

Here's my code:

from netCDF4 import Dataset
import scipy as scp
import numpy as np

# open netCDF file and create a dataset
rootfile = "myfile.nc"
rootgrp = Dataset(rootfile, "r")

# read variable values into arrays
xy = rootgrp.variables["zipxy"]
lon = rootgrp.variables["lon"]
lat = rootgrp.variables["lat"]

# create a new coordinates array
coordinates = np.array([[],[]])

# loop through the xy array and write the corresponding lon & lat coordinates
# into the coordinates array
# NOTE: the vectors in xy begin with [1,1] BUT the index of the values
# in lon & lat begins with [0,0] -> therefore: y-1, x-1
for x, y in xy:
	coordinates = np.append(coordinates,[[lon[y-1,x-1]],[lat[y-1,x-1]]],1)

The dimensions are:
xaxis = 1320
yaxis = 1482
zip2 = 1080236

And the shape of the variables:
zipxy('zip2', 'two')
lon('yaxis', 'xaxis')
lat('yaxis', 'xaxis')

There must be a way to speed up the coordinate extraction (maybe I need another searching method through the arrays...). Until now, I couldn't find any solution.

Thanks for help!

[Mariostg]

You should have a read at Python Patterns - An Optimization Anecdote
. That shall inspire you.

[dwblas]

A list/array is slow. Consider using a set or dictionary as they are hashed. It you just want all of the coordinates, a set made up of tuples=(x, y) or ([lat_x, lat_y], [lon_x, lon_y]) will work fine. Your time consumer is probably the lookups here so time the read/create arrays and the for loop separately so you know where the problem is.

# for x, y in xy:
#     coordinates = np.append(coordinates,[[lon[y-1,x-1]],[lat[y-1,x-1]]],1)

[blackdevil]

Thanks a lot for the both answers!
I will try some possibilities and post the results