Scroll to navigation

GDAL-VECTOR-SET-GEOM-TYPE(1) GDAL GDAL-VECTOR-SET-GEOM-TYPE(1)

NAME

gdal-vector-set-geom-type - Modify the geometry type of a vector dataset

Added in version 3.12.

SYNOPSIS

Usage: gdal vector set-geom-type [OPTIONS] <INPUT> <OUTPUT>
Modify the geometry type of a vector dataset.
Positional arguments:


  -i, --input <INPUT>                                  Input vector datasets [required] [not available in pipelines]


  -o, --output <OUTPUT>                                Output vector dataset [required] [not available in pipelines]
Common Options:


  -h, --help                                           Display help message and exit


  --json-usage                                         Display usage as JSON document and exit


  --config <KEY>=<VALUE>                               Configuration option [may be repeated]


  -q, --quiet                                          Quiet mode (no progress bar or warning message) [not available in pipelines]
Options:


  -l, --layer, --input-layer <INPUT-LAYER>             Input layer name(s) [may be repeated] [not available in pipelines]


  -f, --of, --format, --output-format <OUTPUT-FORMAT>  Output format ("GDALG" allowed) [not available in pipelines]


  --co, --creation-option <KEY>=<VALUE>                Creation option [may be repeated] [not available in pipelines]


  --lco, --layer-creation-option <KEY>=<VALUE>         Layer creation option [may be repeated] [not available in pipelines]


  --overwrite                                          Whether overwriting existing output dataset is allowed [not available in pipelines]


  --update                                             Whether to open existing dataset in update mode [not available in pipelines]


  --overwrite-layer                                    Whether overwriting existing output layer is allowed [not available in pipelines]


  --append                                             Whether appending to existing layer is allowed [not available in pipelines]


                                                       Mutually exclusive with --upsert


  --output-layer <OUTPUT-LAYER>                        Output layer name [not available in pipelines]


  --skip-errors                                        Skip errors when writing features [not available in pipelines]


  --active-layer <ACTIVE-LAYER>                        Set active layer (if not specified, all)


  --active-geometry <ACTIVE-GEOMETRY>                  Geometry field name to which to restrict the processing (if not specified, all)


  --layer-only                                         Only modify the layer geometry type


                                                       Mutually exclusive with --feature-only


  --feature-only                                       Only modify the geometry type of features


                                                       Mutually exclusive with --layer-only


  --geometry-type <GEOMETRY-TYPE>                      Geometry type


  --multi                                              Force geometries to MULTI geometry types


                                                       Mutually exclusive with --single


  --single                                             Force geometries to non-MULTI geometry types


                                                       Mutually exclusive with --multi


  --linear                                             Convert curve geometries to linear types


                                                       Mutually exclusive with --curve


  --curve                                              Convert linear geometries to curve types


                                                       Mutually exclusive with --linear


  --dim <DIM>                                          Force geometries to the specified dimension. DIM=XY|XYZ|XYM|XYZM


  --skip                                               Skip feature when change of feature geometry type failed
Advanced Options:


  --if, --input-format <INPUT-FORMAT>                  Input formats [may be repeated] [not available in pipelines]


  --oo, --open-option <KEY>=<VALUE>                    Open options [may be repeated] [not available in pipelines]


  --output-oo, --output-open-option <KEY>=<VALUE>      Output open options [may be repeated] [not available in pipelines]


  --upsert                                             Upsert features (implies 'append') [not available in pipelines]


                                                       Mutually exclusive with --append


DESCRIPTION

gdal vector set-geom-type can be used to modify the geometry type of geometry fields at the layer and/or feature level.

It can also be used as a step of gdal vector pipeline.

The following groups of options can be combined together: - --multi / --single - --linear / --curve - --dim

GDALG OUTPUT (ON-THE-FLY / STREAMED DATASET)

This program supports serializing the command line as a JSON file using the GDALG output format. The resulting file can then be opened as a vector dataset using the GDALG: GDAL Streamed Algorithm driver, and apply the specified pipeline in a on-the-fly / streamed way.

PROGRAM-SPECIFIC OPTIONS

Force geometries to curve geometry types. e.g. LINESTRING ==> COMPOUNDCURVE or POLYGON ==> CURVEPOLYGON. Points are kept unmodified. This option is mutually exclusive with --linear.

Force geometries to the specified dimension (XY, XYZ, XYM, or XYZM). If the input geometry lacks Z or M components, they will be set to 0. This option is mutually exclusive with --geometry-type.

Only modify the geometry type of features.

Change the geometry type to be one of GEOMETRY, POINT, LINESTRING, POLYGON, MULTIPOINT, MULTILINESTRING, MULTIPOLYGON, GEOMETRYCOLLECTION, CURVE, CIRCULARSTRING, COMPOUNDCURVE, SURFACE, CURVEPOLYGON, MULTICURVE, MULTISURFACE, POLYHEDRALSURFACE or TIN. Z, M or ZM suffixes can be appended to the above values to indicate the dimensionality.

This option is mutually exclusive with --multi, --single, --linear, --curve, and --dim.


Only modify the layer geometry type. A typical use case is if the layer geometry type is set to unknown and the user knows that the layer only contains geometry of a given type.

Force geometries to linear/non-curve geometry types, approximating arcs with linear segments. The linear approximation can be controlled with configuration options OGR_ARC_STEPSIZE and OGR_ARC_MAX_GAP (specified using vector_common_options --config). e.g. COMPOUNDCURVE ==> LINESTRING. This option is mutually exclusive with --curve.

Force geometries to MULTI geometry types. e.g. POINT ==> MULTIPOINT. This option is mutually exclusive with --single.

Force geometries to non-MULTI geometry types. e.g. MULTIPOINT ==> POINT. This option is mutually exclusive with --multi. MultiPoint or MultiLinestring with more than one component will be kept unmodified. MultiPolygon with more than one component will be merged into a (likely invalid according to OGC Simple Features rule) single polygon, merging all their rings.

Skip feature when change of feature geometry type failed (e.g. attempting to force a Point geometry type for a LineString geometry). Otherwise the source geometry will be kept unmodified (which may make it incompatible with the output layer if it does not support mix of geometry types). This option applies both when the target geometry type is defined with --geometry-type, or with any of --multi, --single, --linear, and --curve.

STANDARD OPTIONS

Set the active geometry field from its name. When it is specified, only the specified geometry field will be subject to the processing. Other geometry fields will be not modified. If this option is not specified, all geometry fields will be subject to the processing. This option can be combined together with --active-layer.

Set the active layer. When it is specified, only the layer specified by its name will be subject to the processing. Other layers will be not modified. If this option is not specified, all layers will be subject to the processing.

Whether appending features to existing layer(s) is allowed. This also creates the output dataset if it does not exist yet.

Many formats have one or more optional dataset creation options that can be used to control particulars about the file created. For instance, the GeoPackage driver supports creation options to control the version.

May be repeated.

The dataset creation options available vary by format driver, and some simple formats have no creation options at all. A list of options supported for a format can be listed with the --formats command line option but the documentation for the format is the definitive source of information on driver creation options. See Vector drivers format specific documentation for legal creation options for each format.

Note that dataset creation options are different from layer creation options.


Format/driver name to be attempted to open the input file(s). It is generally not necessary to specify it, but it can be used to skip automatic driver detection, when it fails to select the appropriate driver. This option can be repeated several times to specify several candidate drivers. Note that it does not force those drivers to open the dataset. In particular, some drivers have requirements on file extensions.

May be repeated.


Specifies the name of one or more layers to process. By default, all layers will be processed. To read and write all layers but only process a subset, use --active-layer.

Many formats have one or more optional layer creation options that can be used to control particulars about the layer created. For instance, the GeoPackage driver supports layer creation options to control the feature identifier or geometry column name, setting the identifier or description, etc.

May be repeated.

The layer creation options available vary by format driver, and some simple formats have no layer creation options at all. A list of options supported for a format can be listed with the --formats command line option but the documentation for the format is the definitive source of information on driver creation options. See Vector drivers format specific documentation for legal creation options for each format.

Note that layer creation options are different from dataset creation options.


Dataset open option (format specific).

May be repeated.


Which output vector format to use. Allowed values may be given by gdal --formats | grep vector | grep rw | sort

Specifies the name of the layer to which features will be written. If not specified, output layer names will be the same as input layer names.

Added in version 3.12.

Dataset open option for output dataset (format specific).

May be repeated.


Allow program to overwrite existing target file or dataset. Otherwise, by default, gdal errors out if the target file or dataset already exists.

--overwrite-layer
Whether overwriting the existing output vector layer is allowed.

--skip-errors
Added in version 3.12.

Whether failures to write feature(s) should be ignored. Note that this option sets the size of the transaction unit to one feature at a time, which may cause severe slowdown when inserting into databases.


Whether to open an existing output dataset in update mode.

Added in version 3.12.

Variant of --append where the OGRLayer::UpsertFeature() operation is used to insert or update features instead of appending with OGRLayer::CreateFeature().

This is currently implemented only in a few drivers: GPKG -- GeoPackage vector, Elasticsearch: Geographically Encoded Objects for Elasticsearch and MongoDBv3 (drivers that implement upsert expose the GDAL_DCAP_UPSERT capability).

The upsert operation uses the FID of the input feature, when it is set (and the FID column name is not the empty string), as the key to update existing features. It is crucial to make sure that the FID in the source and target layers are consistent.

For the GPKG driver, it is also possible to upsert features whose FID is unset or non-significant (the --unset-fid option of gdal vector edit can be used to ignore the FID from the source feature), when there is a UNIQUE column that is not the integer primary key.


RETURN STATUS CODE

The program returns status code 0 in case of success, and non-zero in case of error (non-blocking errors emitted as warnings are considered as a successful execution).

EXAMPLES

Example 1: Convert a shapefile mixing polygons and multipolygons to a GeoPackage with multipolygons.

$ gdal vector set-geom-type --geometry-type=MULTIPOLYGON in.shp out.gpkg --overwrite


Example 2: Convert a GeoPackage with curve geometries to a Shapefile (that does not support them).

$ gdal vector set-geom-type --linear in.gpkg out.shp --overwrite


AUTHOR

Even Rouault <even.rouault@spatialys.com>

COPYRIGHT

1998-2026

June 5, 2026