GDAL Summary (from an OpenEV perspective)

• A library used to read/write datasets
• Datasets fall in two main categories from OpenEV's perspective: raster, and vector. Raster files are image data, a complete 2 or more dimensional array of values displayed in OpenEV as a grayscale grid (one or two bands) or in colour if there are more than 2 bands (one colour grid for each of three bands, with the option to use another band to specify the degree of transparency). Vector files consist of a set of points, lines, or polygons (groups of points). Here is an example of a raster image displayed in an OpenEV window:

  Here is an example of a vector file, displayed in an OpenEV window:

• GDAL started out as a raster library, then pulled in OGR to become a vector library as well. OpenEV does not use GDAL/OGR to read shapefiles- it has its own internal code to read in this information (shpopen.c), but it does use OGR to open other types of vector files (eg. UK.NTF, Arc/Info Binary Coverage, Mapinfo File). OGR is an optional configuration option in both gdal and OpenEV- on by default in gdal, off in OpenEV. There is separate code in OpenEV that is only compiled when ogr is turned on (gvogr.c)- this converts the ogr objects to a GvShapes object (GvShapes is the class that OpenEV uses to represent collections of vector objects for display). In gdal, OGR is also used in doing coordinate transformations.
• Aside: OGR used to stand for "OpenGIS Simple Features Reference Implementation", however it no longer is compliant with the Simple Feature specification, so although the term OGR is still used, its meaning is irrelevant.
• GDAL reads in a file and gathers the basic information needed for display. For a raster file, the most basic information is the image size, the offset where the actual data starts within the file or fileset, the datatype, and how the data is stored (eg. byte order, band interleaving etc.). Additional information may also be pulled out and stored (eg. metadata, georeferencing information), depending on the format. The information is stored as a gdal Dataset (see Dataset in gdal.py for code). For a vector file, the number and type of shapes stored must be known, along with how to extract the vectors and attribute information. This information may be stored in an OpenEV GvShapes object directly (if read from a shapefile), or stored in an ogr Dataset and converted to a GvShapes object before display.
• GDAL can take in extra information from other libraries if configured to do so. For instance, if it is configured with --libtiff=internal, it will use internal code for tiffs that just contains enough information to read basic fields. However, it can also be configured to link to an external tiff library that may offer more specific information on certain fields, provided the library follows the expected API. Some filetypes can only be read by linking to external libraries (eg. jpeg 2000); these are not configured in by default. The gdal web page indicates the maximum number of formats supported, not the default. Some versions of OpenEV have a formats tool (Help->Formats menu entry) that searches GDAL's driver list at runtime and displays a widget summarizing this information.
• GDAL utilities (apply to rasters only):
  1. gdal_translate- Translate files into other formats, window files, rescale files, extract bands.
  2. gdaladdo- Add tiled overviews to a raster.
  3. gdalinfo- Give information about a raster file (format, size, metadata).
  4. gdal_warp- Reprojection and warping utility, mosaicing.
  5. gdaltindex- Build a shapefile with a record for each input raster file, an attribute containing the filename, and a polygon geometry outlining the raster.
  6. rgb2pct.py- compute a pseudocolor table for an rgb image.
  7. gdal_merge.py- Mosaic a set of images.
  8. gdal-config- Information about the gdal installation.
  For more, see the GDAL Utilities website.
• There are also OGR utilities for vectors:
  1. ogrinfo- Give information about a vector file.
  2. ogr2ogr- Convert between ogr-supported formats.
  3. ogrtindex- Create a tileindex (file containing the identities and spatial extent of a list of files).
  For more, see the OGR Utilities website.