NAME¶

v.distance - Finds the nearest element in vector map 'to' for elements in vector map 'from'.

KEYWORDS¶

vector, database, attribute table

SYNOPSIS¶

v.distance v.distance help v.distance [-pa] from=name to=name [from_type=string[,string,...]] [to_type=string[, string,...]] [from_layer=integer] [ to_layer=integer] [output= name] [dmax=float] [dmin=float] upload=string[,string,...] column= name[,name,...] [to_column=name] [table=name] [--overwrite] [--verbose] [--quiet]

Flags:¶

-p

 

Print output to stdout, don't update attribute table

 

First column is always category of 'from' feature called from_cat

-a

 

Calculate distances to all features within the threshold

 

Output is written to stdout but may be uploaded to a new table created by this module; multiple 'upload' options may be used.

--overwrite

 

Allow output files to overwrite existing files

--verbose

 

Verbose module output

--quiet

 

Quiet module output

Parameters:¶

from=name

 

Name of existing vector map (from)

to=name

 

Name of existing vector map (to)

from_type=string[,string,...]

 

Feature type (from)

 

Feature type

 

Options: point,centroid

 

Default: point

to_type=string[,string,...]

 

Feature type (to)

 

Feature type

 

Options: point,line,boundary,centroid,area

 

Default: point,line,area

from_layer=integer

 

Layer number (from)

 

A single vector map can be connected to multiple database tables. This number determines which table to use.

 

Default: 1

to_layer=integer

 

Layer number (to)

 

A single vector map can be connected to multiple database tables. This number determines which table to use.

 

Default: 1

output=name

 

Name for output vector map containing lines connecting nearest elements

dmax=float

 

Maximum distance or -1 for no limit

 

Default: -1

dmin=float

 

Minimum distance or -1 for no limit

 

Default: -1

upload=string[,string,...]

 

Values describing the relation between two nearest features

 

Options: cat,dist,to_x,to_y,to_along,to_angle,to_attr

 

cat: category of the nearest feature

 

dist: minimum distance to nearest feature

 

to_x: x coordinate of the nearest point on the 'to' feature

 

to_y: y coordinate of the nearest point on the 'to' feature

 

to_along: distance to the nearest point on the 'to' feature along that linear feature

 

to_angle: angle along the nearest linear feature in the 'to' map, measured CCW from the +x axis, in radians, between -Pi and Pi inclusive

 

to_attr: attribute of nearest feature given by to_column option

column=name[,name,...]

 

Column name(s) where values specified by 'upload' option will be uploaded

to_column=name

 

Column name of nearest feature (used with upload=to_attr)

table=name

 

Name of table created when the 'distance to all' flag is used

DESCRIPTION¶

v.distance finds the nearest element in vector map ( to) for elements in vector map ( from). Various information about the vectors' relationships (distance, category, etc.) may be uploaded to the attribute table attached to the first vector map, or printed to ’stdout'. A new vector map may be created where lines connecting nearest points on features are written. dmin and/or dmax can be used to limit the search radius.

NOTES¶

If a nearest feature does not have a category, the attribute column is updated to null. This is true also for areas, which means for example, that if a point is in an island (area WITHOUT category), v.distance does not search for the nearest area WITH category; the island is identified as the nearest and category updated to null. The upload column(s) must already exist. Create one with v.db.addcol. In lat-long locations v.distance gives distances (dist and to_along) in meters not in degrees calculated as geodesic distances on a sphere.

EXAMPLES¶

Find nearest lines¶

Find nearest lines in vector map ln for points from vector map pnt within the given threshold and write related line categories to column linecat in an attribute table attached to vector map pnt: v.distance from=pnt to=ln upload=cat column=linecat

Find nearest area¶

For each point from vector map pnt, find the nearest area from map ar within the given threshold and write the related area categories to column areacat in an attribute table attached to vector map pnt (in the case that a point falls into a polygon area, the distance is zero): v.distance from=pnt to=ar upload=cat column=areacat

Create a new vector map¶

Create a new vector map which contains lines connecting nearest features of maps pnt and map ln. The resulting vector map can be used for example to connect points to a network as needed for network analysis: v.distance -p from=pnt to=ln out=connections upload=dist column=dist

Query information¶

Query information from selected point(s). v.distance takes points from a vector map as input instead of stdin. A new vector map with query points has to be created before the map can be analysed. Create query map (if not present): echo "123456|654321|1" | v.in.ascii output=pnt Find nearest features: v.distance from=pnt to=map_to_query upload=cat col=somecol -p

Point-in-polygon¶

The option dmax=0 is here important because otherwise for points not falling into any area, the category of the nearest area is recorded. For each point from vector map pnt, find the area from vector map ar in which the individual point falls, and write the related area categories to column areacat into the attribute table attached to vector map pnt: v.distance from=pnt to=ar dmax=0 upload=cat column=areacat

Univariate statistics on results¶

Create a vector map containing connecting lines and investigate mean distance to targets. An alternative solution is to use the v.distance upload=dist option to upload distances into the bugs vector directly, then run v.univar on that. Also note you can upload two columns at a time, e.g. v.distance upload=cat,dist column=nearest_id,dist_to_nr. # create working copy g.copy vect=bugsites,bugs # add new attribute column to hold nearest archsite category number v.db.addcol map=bugs column="nrst_arch INTEGER" v.distance from=bugs to=archsites to_type=point upload=to_attr \
to_column=cat column=nrst_arch out=vdistance_vectors_raw # we need to give the lines category numbers, create a table, and create # a column in that table to hold the distance data. v.category vdistance_vectors_raw out=vdistance_vectors type=line op=add g.remove v=vdistance_vectors_raw v.db.addtable map=vdistance_vectors column="length DOUBLE" v.to.db map=vdistance_vectors option=length column=length # calculcate statistics. Use v.univar.sh for extended statistics. v.univar vdistance_vectors column=length

Print distance matrix¶

v.distance -pa from=archsites to=archsites upload=dist col=dist Note: Matrix-like output is enabled only for flag -a and one given upload option.

SEE ALSO¶

r.distance, v.db.addcol, v.what.vect

AUTHOR¶

Janne Soimasuo 1994, University of Joensuu, Faculty of Forestry, Finland Cmd line coordinates support: Markus Neteler, ITC-irst, Trento, Italy Updated for 5.1: Radim Blazek, ITC-irst, Trento, Italy Martix-like output by Martin Landa, FBK-irst, Trento, Italy Last changed: $Date: 2011-11-08 12:29:50 +0100 (Tue, 08 Nov 2011) $ Full index © 2003-2014 GRASS Development Team