GDAL-VECTOR-SIMPLIFY(1) GDAL GDAL-VECTOR-SIMPLIFY(1) NAME gdal-vector-simplify - Simplify geometries of a vector dataset Added in version 3.12. SYNOPSIS Usage: gdal vector simplify [OPTIONS] Simplify geometries of a vector dataset. Positional arguments: -i, --input Input vector datasets [required] [not available in pipelines] -o, --output Output vector dataset [required] [not available in pipelines] --tolerance Distance tolerance for simplification. [required] Common Options: -h, --help Display help message and exit --json-usage Display usage as JSON document and exit --config = 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 name(s) [may be repeated] [not available in pipelines] -f, --of, --format, --output-format Output format ("GDALG" allowed) [not available in pipelines] --co, --creation-option = Creation option [may be repeated] [not available in pipelines] --lco, --layer-creation-option = 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 name [not available in pipelines] --skip-errors Skip errors when writing features [not available in pipelines] --active-layer Set active layer (if not specified, all) --active-geometry Geometry field name to which to restrict the processing (if not specified, all) Advanced Options: --if, --input-format Input formats [may be repeated] [not available in pipelines] --oo, --open-option = Open options [may be repeated] [not available in pipelines] --output-oo, --output-open-option = 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 simplify simplifies geometries, ensuring that the result is a valid geometry having the same dimension and number of components as the input. The simplification uses a maximum distance difference algorithm similar to the one used in the Douglas-Peucker algorithm. This done by the OGRGeometry::SimplifyPreserveTopology() method which preserves the topology per feature, but not for a whole layer. Thus gaps or overlaps between geometries that were initially contiguous may happen. To perform simplification that preserves shared boundaries between geometries, see gdal vector simplify-coverage. This command can also be used as a step of gdal vector pipeline. [image] Line dataset before (left) and after (right) simplification with gdal vector simplify..UNINDENT NOTE: This command requires a GDAL build against the GEOS library. 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 --tolerance The specified value of this option is the tolerance used to merge consecutive points of the output geometry using the OGRGeometry::SimplifyPreserveTopology() method The unit of the distance is in georeferenced units of the source layer. STANDARD OPTIONS --active-geometry 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. --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. --append Whether appending features to existing layer(s) is allowed. This also creates the output dataset if it does not exist yet. --co, --creation-option = 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. --if, --input-format 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. --input-layer 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. --lco, --layer-creation-option = 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. --oo, --open-option = Dataset open option (format specific). May be repeated. -f, --of, --format, --output-format Which output vector format to use. Allowed values may be given by gdal --formats | grep vector | grep rw | sort --output-layer 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. --output-open-option, --output-oo = Added in version 3.12. Dataset open option for output dataset (format specific). May be repeated. --overwrite 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. --update Whether to open an existing output dataset in update mode. --upsert 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: Simplify geometries using a tolerance of one km (assuming the CRS is in meters) $ gdal vector simplify --tolerance=1000 in.gpkg out.gpkg --overwrite AUTHOR Even Rouault COPYRIGHT 1998-2026 August 18, 2026 GDAL-VECTOR-SIMPLIFY(1)