gdal_contour (1) Linux Manual Page
gdal_contour – gdal_contour builds vector contour lines from a raster elevation model
Synopsis
Usage: gdal_contour [-b <band>] [-a <attribute_name>] [-3d] [-inodata]
[-snodata n] [-i <interval>]
[-f <formatname>] [[-dsco NAME=VALUE] …] [[-lco NAME=VALUE] …]
[-off <offset>] [-fl <level> <level>…]
[-nln <outlayername>]
<src_filename> <dst_filename>
Description
This program generates a vector contour file from the input raster elevation model (DEM).Starting from version 1.7 the contour line-strings will be oriented consistently. 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.
- -3d:
- Force production of 3D vectors instead of 2D. Includes elevation at every vertex.
- -inodata:
- Ignore any nodata value implied in the dataset – treat all values as valid.
- -snodata value:
- Input pixel value to treat as ‘nodata’.
- -f format:
- create output in a particular format, default is shapefiles.
- -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.
- -nln outlayername:
- Provide a name for the output vector layer. Defaults to ‘contour’.
Example
This would create 10meter 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