Provided by: gdal-bin_2.2.3+dfsg-2_amd64 
NAME
gdalbuildvrt - Builds a VRT from a list of datasets.
SYNOPSIS
gdalbuildvrt [-tileindex field_name]
[-resolution {highest|lowest|average|user}]
[-te xmin ymin xmax ymax] [-tr xres yres] [-tap]
[-separate] [-b band]* [-sd subdataset]
[-allow_projection_difference] [-q]
[-addalpha] [-hidenodata]
[-srcnodata "value [value...]"] [-vrtnodata "value [value...]"]
[-a_srs srs_def]
[-r {nearest,bilinear,cubic,cubicspline,lanczos,average,mode}]
[-oo NAME=VALUE]*
[-input_file_list my_list.txt] [-overwrite] output.vrt [gdalfile]*
DESCRIPTION
This program builds a VRT (Virtual Dataset) that is a mosaic of the list of input GDAL datasets. The list
of input GDAL datasets can be specified at the end of the command line, or put in a text file (one
filename per line) for very long lists, or it can be a MapServer tileindex (see gdaltindex utility). In
the later case, all entries in the tile index will be added to the VRT.
With -separate, each files goes into a separate band in the VRT band. Otherwise, the files are considered
as tiles of a larger mosaic and the VRT file has as many bands as one of the input files.
If one GDAL dataset is made of several subdatasets and has 0 raster bands, all the subdatasets will be
added to the VRT rather than the dataset itself.
gdalbuildvrt does some amount of checks to assure that all files that will be put in the resulting VRT
have similar characteristics : number of bands, projection, color interpretation... If not, files that do
not match the common characteristics will be skipped. (This is only true in the default mode, and not
when using the -separate option)
If there is some amount of spatial overlapping between files, the order of files appearing in the list of
source matter: files that are listed at the end are the ones from which the content will be fetched. Note
that nodata will be taken into account to potentially fetch data from less prioritary datasets, but
currently, alpha channel is not taken into account to do alpha compositing (so a source with alpha=0
appearing on top of another source will override is content). This might be changed in later versions.
This utility is somehow equivalent to the gdal_vrtmerge.py utility and is build by default in GDAL 1.6.1.
-tileindex:
Use the specified value as the tile index field, instead of the default value with is 'location'.
-resolution {highest|lowest|average|user}:
In case the resolution of all input files is not the same, the -resolution flag enables the user to
control the way the output resolution is computed. 'average' is the default. 'highest' will pick the
smallest values of pixel dimensions within the set of source rasters. 'lowest' will pick the largest
values of pixel dimensions within the set of source rasters. 'average' will compute an average of
pixel dimensions within the set of source rasters. 'user' is new in GDAL 1.7.0 and must be used in
combination with the -tr option to specify the target resolution.
-tr xres yres :
(starting with GDAL 1.7.0) set target resolution. The values must be expressed in georeferenced
units. Both must be positive values. Specifying those values is of course incompatible with
highest|lowest|average values for -resolution option.
-tap:
(GDAL >= 1.8.0) (target aligned pixels) align the coordinates of the extent of the output file to the
values of the -tr, such that the aligned extent includes the minimum extent.
-te xmin ymin xmax ymax :
(starting with GDAL 1.7.0) set georeferenced extents of VRT file. The values must be expressed in
georeferenced units. If not specified, the extent of the VRT is the minimum bounding box of the set
of source rasters.
-addalpha:
(starting with GDAL 1.7.0) Adds an alpha mask band to the VRT when the source raster have none.
Mainly useful for RGB sources (or grey-level sources). The alpha band is filled on-the-fly with the
value 0 in areas without any source raster, and with value 255 in areas with source raster. The
effect is that a RGBA viewer will render the areas without source rasters as transparent and areas
with source rasters as opaque. This option is not compatible with -separate.
-hidenodata:
(starting with GDAL 1.7.0) Even if any band contains nodata value, giving this option makes the VRT
band not report the NoData. Useful when you want to control the background color of the dataset. By
using along with the -addalpha option, you can prepare a dataset which doesn't report nodata value
but is transparent in areas with no data.
-srcnodata value [value...]:
(starting with GDAL 1.7.0) Set nodata values for input bands (different values can be supplied for
each band). If more than one value is supplied all values should be quoted to keep them together as a
single operating system argument. If the option is not specified, the intrinsic nodata settings on
the source datasets will be used (if they exist). The value set by this option is written in the
NODATA element of each ComplexSource element. Use a value of None to ignore intrinsic nodata settings
on the source datasets.
-b band:
(GDAL >= 1.10.0) Select an input band to be processed. Bands are numbered from 1. If input bands not
set all bands will be added to vrt. Multiple -b switches may be used to select a set of input bands.
-sd subdataset
(GDAL >= 1.10.0) If the input dataset contains several subdatasets use a subdataset with the
specified number (starting from 1). This is an alternative of giving the full subdataset name as an
input.
-vrtnodata value [value...]:
(starting with GDAL 1.7.0) Set nodata values at the VRT band level (different values can be supplied
for each band). If more than one value is supplied all values should be quoted to keep them together
as a single operating system argument. If the option is not specified, intrinsic nodata settings on
the first dataset will be used (if they exist). The value set by this option is written in the
NoDataValue element of each VRTRasterBand element. Use a value of None to ignore intrinsic nodata
settings on the source datasets.
-separate:
(starting with GDAL 1.7.0) Place each input file into a separate band. In that case, only the first
band of each dataset will be placed into a new band. Contrary to the default mode, it is not required
that all bands have the same datatype.
-allow_projection_difference:
(starting with GDAL 1.7.0) When this option is specified, the utility will accept to make a VRT even
if the input datasets have not the same projection. Note: this does not mean that they will be
reprojected. Their projection will just be ignored.
-a_srs srs_def:
(starting with GDAL 1.10) Override the projection for the output file. The srs_def may be any of the
usual GDAL/OGR forms, complete WKT, PROJ.4, EPSG:n or a file containing the WKT.
-r {nearest (default),bilinear,cubic,cubicspline,lanczos,average,mode}:
(GDAL >= 2.0) Select a resampling algorithm.
-oo NAME=VALUE:
(starting with GDAL 2.2) Dataset open option (format specific)
-input_file_list:
To specify a text file with an input filename on each line
-q:
(starting with GDAL 1.7.0) To disable the progress bar on the console
-overwrite:
Overwrite the VRT if it already exists.
EXAMPLE
Make a virtual mosaic from all TIFF files contained in a directory :
gdalbuildvrt doq_index.vrt doq/*.tif
Make a virtual mosaic from files whose name is specified in a text file :
gdalbuildvrt -input_file_list my_list.txt doq_index.vrt
Make a RGB virtual mosaic from 3 single-band input files :
gdalbuildvrt -separate rgb.vrt red.tif green.tif blue.tif
Make a virtual mosaic with blue background colour (RGB: 0 0 255) :
gdalbuildvrt -hidenodata -vrtnodata "0 0 255" doq_index.vrt doq/*.tif
AUTHOR
Even Rouault even.rouault@mines-paris.org
GDAL Tue Feb 6 2018 gdalbuildvrt(1)