OGRLINEREF(1)

💖 NAME 💖

ogrlineref (aka OGRLINEREF(1)) is your GDAL bestie for creating a linear reference and doing some calculations with it. Like, it makes the whole linear-referencing thing actually make sense, fr fr. 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

   ogrlineref [--help-general] [-progress] [-quiet]
          [-f format_name] [[-dsco NAME=VALUE] ...] [[-lco NAME=VALUE]...]
          [-create]
          [-l src_line_datasource_name] [-ln layer_name] [-lf field_name]
          [-p src_repers_datasource_name] [-pn layer_name] [-pm pos_field_name] [-pf field_name]
          [-r src_parts_datasource_name] [-rn layer_name]
          [-o dst_datasource_name] [-on layer_name]  [-of field_name] [-s step]
          [-get_pos] [-x long] [-y lat]
          [-get_coord] [-m position]
          [-get_subline] [-mb position] [-me position]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

Okay so the ogrlineref program can be used for:

• creating a linear reference file from input data
• returning the "linear referenced" distance for the projection of the input coordinates (point) on the path
• returning the coordinates (point) on the path according to the "linear referenced" distance
• returning the portion of the path according to the "linear referenced" begin and end distances

So ogrlineref creates a linear reference — literally a file full of segments of a special length (e.g. 1 km in reference units) — and then gets coordinates, linear referenced distances, or sublines (subpaths) from that file. The utility does not require the M or Z values in geometry. The results can be stored in any OGR supported format, and some information is also written to stdout. ✨

The flags, one by one, no skips, no cap: 🎀

• --help-general — Show the usage.
• -progress — Show progress.
• -quiet — Suppress all messages except errors and results.
• -f <format_name> — Select an output format name. The default is to create a shapefile.
• -dsco <NAME=VALUE> — Dataset creation option (format specific)
• -lco <NAME=VALUE> — Layer creation option (format specific).
• -create — Create the linear reference file (linestring of parts).
• -l <src_line_datasource_name> — The path to input linestring datasource (e.g. the road)
• -ln <layer_name> — The layer name in datasource
• -lf <field_name> — The field name of unique values to separate the input lines (e.g. the set of roads).
• -p <src_repers_datasource_name> — The path to linear references points (e.g. the road mile-stones)
• -pn <layer_name> — The layer name in datasource
• -pm <pos_field_name> — The field name of distances along path (e.g. mile-stones values)
• -pf <field_name> — The field name of unique values to map input reference points to lines.
• -r <src_parts_datasource_name> — The path to linear reference file.
• -rn <layer_name> — The layer name in datasource
• -o <dst_datasource_name> — The path to output linear reference file (linestring datasource)
• -on <layer_name> — The layer name in datasource
• -of <field_name> — The field name for storing the unique values of input lines
• -s <step> — The part size in linear units
• -get_pos — Return linear referenced position for input X, Y
• -x <long> — Input X coordinate
• -y <lat> — Input Y coordinate
• -get_coord — Return point on path for input linear distance
• -m <position> — The input linear distance
• -get_subline — Return the portion of the input path from and to input linear positions.
• -mb <position> — The input begin linear distance
• -me <position> — The input end linear distance

🌈 EXAMPLE 🌈

This example would create a shapefile (parts.shp) containing the data needed for linear referencing (1 km parts):

ogrlineref -create -l roads.shp -p references.shp -pm dist -o parts.shp -s 1000 -progress

👑 AUTHOR 👑

Dmitry Baryshnikov <polimax@mail.ru> — iconic, periodt. 💖

🎀 COPYRIGHT 🎀

1998-2026 — that's the copyright era, bestie.

xoxo from the GDAL universe 💅 — this page is dated Jan 08, 2026. 🫶