GDAL_CONTOUR(1) GDAL GDAL_CONTOUR(1)
NAME
gdal_contour - Builds vector contour lines from a raster elevation
model.
SYNOPSIS
gdal_contour [-b <band>] [-a <attribute_name>] [-amin <attribute_name>] [-amax <attribute_name>]
[-3d] [-inodata]
[-snodata n] [-i <interval>]
[-f <formatname>] [[-dsco NAME=VALUE] ...] [[-lco NAME=VALUE] ...]
[-off <offset>] [-fl <level> <level>...] [-e <exp_base>]
[-nln <outlayername>] [-q] [-p]
<src_filename> <dst_filename>
DESCRIPTION
The gdal_contour generates a vector contour file from the input raster
elevation model (DEM).
The contour line-strings are oriented consistently and the high side
will be on the right, i.e. a line string goes clockwise around a top.
-b <band>
Picks a particular band to get the DEM from. Defaults to band 1.
-a <name>
Provides a name for the attribute in which to put the elevation.
If not provided no elevation attribute is attached. Ignored in
polygonal contouring (-p) mode.
-amin <name>
Provides a name for the attribute in which to put the minimum
elevation of contour polygon. If not provided no minimum eleva-
tion attribute is attached. Ignored in default line contouring
mode.
New in version 2.4.0.
-amax <name>
Provides a name for the attribute in which to put the maximum
elevation of contour polygon. If not provided no maximum eleva-
tion attribute is attached. Ignored in default line contouring
mode.
New in version 2.4.0.
-3d Force production of 3D vectors instead of 2D. Includes eleva-
tion at every vertex.
-inodata
Ignore any nodata value implied in the dataset - treat all val-
ues as valid.
-snodata <value>
Input pixel value to treat as "nodata".
-f <format>
Create output in a particular format.
New in version 2.3.0: If not specified, the format is guessed
from the extension (previously was ESRI Shapefile).
-dsco <NAME=VALUE>
Dataset creation option (format specific)
-lco <NAME=VALUE>
Layer creation option (format specific)
-i <interval>
Elevation interval between contours.
-off <offset>
Offset from zero relative to which to interpret intervals.
-fl <level>
Name one or more "fixed levels" to extract.
-e <base>
Generate levels on an exponential scale: base ^ k, for k an in-
teger.
New in version 2.4.0.
-nln <name>
Provide a name for the output vector layer. Defaults to "con-
tour".
-p Generate contour polygons rather than contour lines.
New in version 2.4.0.
-q Be quiet.
C API
Functionality of this utility can be done from C with GDALContourGener-
ate().
EXAMPLE
This would create 10-meter contours from the DEM data in dem.tif and
produce a shapefile in contour.shp|shx|dbf with the contour elevations
in the elev attribute.
gdal_contour -a elev dem.tif contour.shp -i 10.0
AUTHOR
Frank Warmerdam <warmerdam@pobox.com>, Silke Reimer <silke@inteva-
tion.de>
COPYRIGHT
1998-2021
Dec 27, 2021 GDAL_CONTOUR(1)
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