ENH: preserve column order in read_file (#378) (#379)

geopandas/io/file.py

@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ def read_file(filename, **kwargs):
 
     *filename* is either the absolute or relative path to the file to be
     opened and *kwargs* are keyword args to be passed to the `open` method
-    in the fiona library when opening the file. For more information on 
+    in the fiona library when opening the file. For more information on
     possible keywords, type: ``import fiona; help(fiona.open)``
     """
     bbox = kwargs.pop('bbox', None)
@@ -27,6 +27,10 @@ def read_file(filename, **kwargs):
             f_filt = f
         gdf = GeoDataFrame.from_features(f_filt, crs=crs)
 
+        # re-order with column order from metadata, with geometry last
+        columns = list(f.meta["schema"]["properties"]) + ["geometry"]
+        gdf = gdf[columns]
+
     return gdf
 
 

geopandas/io/tests/test_io.py

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ def setUp(self):
         self.df = read_file(nybb_zip_path, vfs=vfs)
         with fiona.open(nybb_zip_path, vfs=vfs) as f:
             self.crs = f.crs
+            self.columns = list(f.meta["schema"]["properties"].keys())
 
     def test_read_postgis_default(self):
         con = connect('test_geopandas')
@@ -54,6 +55,9 @@ def test_read_file(self):
         df = self.df.rename(columns=lambda x: x.lower())
         validate_boro_df(self, df)
         self.assert_(df.crs == self.crs)
+        # get lower case columns, and exclude geometry column from comparison
+        lower_columns = [c.lower() for c in self.columns]
+        self.assert_((df.columns[:-1] == lower_columns).all())
 
     def test_filtered_read_file(self):
         full_df_shape = self.df.shape