GDAL
Translator library for raster and vector geospatial data formats / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Geospatial Data Abstraction Library (GDAL) is a computer software library for reading and writing raster and vector geospatial data formats (e.g. shapefile), and is released under the permissive X/MIT style free software license by the Open Source Geospatial Foundation. As a library, it presents a single abstract data model to the calling application for all supported formats. It may also be built with a variety of useful command line interface utilities for data translation and processing. Projections and transformations are supported by the PROJ library.
Original author(s) | Frank Warmerdam |
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Developer(s) | Open Source Geospatial Foundation |
Initial release | 8 June 2000; 23 years ago (2000-06-08) |
Stable release | |
Repository | |
Written in | C, C++, Python |
Platform | Cross-platform |
Available in | English |
Type | Library |
License | X/MIT |
Website | gdal |
The related OGR library (OGR Simple Features Library[2]), which is part of the GDAL source tree, provides a similar ability for simple features vector graphics data.
GDAL was developed mainly by Frank Warmerdam until the release of version 1.3.2, when maintenance was officially transferred to the GDAL/OGR Project Management Committee under the Open Source Geospatial Foundation.
GDAL/OGR is considered a major free software project for its "extensive capabilities of data exchange" and also in the commercial GIS community due to its widespread use and comprehensive set of functionalities.[3][4]