v.build.polylines(1)

📦
version 8.4.2 · 8 versions
, in fedora 44

💖 v.build.polylines 💖

okay bestie, gather round, because this is the v.build.polylines manual page from the GRASS GIS User's Manual and it is literally about gluing lil line segments back into big gorgeous polylines. no cap. let's get into it 🦋

✨ NAME ✨

v.build.polylines — Builds polylines from lines or boundaries. yes that's the whole job. that's her. 💅

🎀 KEYWORDS 🎀

vector, topology, geometry, line, node, vertex

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

v.build.polylines
v.build.polylines --help
v.build.polylines input=name output=name  [cats=string]
[type=string[,string,...]]   [--overwrite]  [--help]  [--verbose]
[--quiet]  [--ui]

💫 Flags 💫

  • --overwrite — Allow output files to overwrite existing files (yes she will simply replace them, no hesitation 💀)
  • --help — Print usage summary
  • --verbose — Verbose module output
  • --quiet — Quiet module output
  • --ui — Force launching GUI dialog

🫶 Parameters 🫶

  • input=name [required] — Name of input vector map
    • Or data source for direct OGR access
  • output=name [required] — Name for output vector map
  • cats=string — Category number mode
    • Options: no, first, multi, same
    • Default: no
    • no: Do not assign any category number to polyline
    • first: Assign category number of first line to polyline
    • multi: Assign multiple category numbers to polyline
    • same: Create polyline from lines with same categories
  • type=string[,string,...] — Input feature type
    • Options: line, boundary
    • Default: line,boundary

👑 DESCRIPTION 👑

So. v.build.polylines builds polylines from the lines or boundaries in a vector map. that's the vibe check, and it passes. ✨

A line is defined by one start node, one end node and any number of vertices between the start and end nodes. The shortest possible line consists of only two vertices where the coordinates of the start and end nodes are identical to those of the two vertices. (iconic minimalism tbh.)

Now here's the tea on how she actually does it: v.build.polylines picks a line and from its start node, walks back as long as exactly one other line of the same type is connected to this node. Line directions are reversed as required, i.e. it does not matter if the next line is connected to the current node by its start or end node. Once the start line of a polyline is identified, it walks forward and adds all vertices (in reverse order if needed) of connected lines to the start line, i.e. the start line and connecting lines are reversed as needed. That is, if a line is reversed depends on what node is initially picked for building polylines. If the direction of lines is important (it's not for boundaries to build areas), you have to manually change line directions with either v.edit or the wxGUI vector digitizer. so like, know that before you come for her. 🙈

Polylines provide the most appropriate representation of curved lines when it is important that nodes serve to define topology rather than geometry. Curved lines are usually digitized as polylines, but these are sometimes broken into their constituent straight line segments during conversion from one data format to another. v.build.polylines can be used to rebuild such broken polylines. it's giving restoration arc. 🧚

💜 NOTES 💜

v.build.polylines combines only lines of the same type to a new polyline, i.e. lines and boundaries are kept separate. they do not mix, periodt. 🚫

Category number(s) are assigned to a polyline based on the cats parameter.

  • cats=no — No category number is assigned to a polyline. Also attributes tables linked to the input vector map are not copied to the output vector map.
  • cats=first — Assign to a polyline category number of the first line. All linked attributes tables are copied to the output vector map without filtering, but the categories are processed according to the cats option.
  • cats=multi — If the lines that make up a polyline have different category numbers then v.build.polylines will set the multiple category numbers to a polyline. Also all linked attributes tables are copied to the output vector map.
  • cats=same — Assigned lines to a polyline have same category numbers in all layers. Linked attributes tables are copied to the output vector map.

v.build.polylines correctly handles input vector maps containing lines, boundaries, centroids and points. Lines and boundaries will be converted to polylines. Areas are guaranteed to be preserved. slay. 💅

🌈 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 🌈

This program was originally written during Mark Lake's tenure of a Leverhulme Special Research Fellowship at University College London. academic icon behavior fr fr 🎓✨

⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

v.build, v.in.ascii, v.edit, v.split

🦋 AUTHORS 🦋

  • Mark Lake, Institute of Archaeology, University College London.
  • Major rewrite by Radim Blazek, October 2002
  • Category mode added by Martin Landa, FBK-irst, Trento, Italy, October 2007
  • Support for categories, attributes, and different line types by Markus Metz

💻 SOURCE CODE 💻

Available at: v.build.polylines source code (history)

Accessed: Saturday Jan 17 05:41:18 2026

Main index | Vector index | Topics index | Keywords index | Graphical index | Full index

© 2003-2025 GRASS Development Team, GRASS GIS 8.4.2 Reference Manual

okay that's the whole page bestie, you ate it up 💖 this was v.build.polylines(1) from GRASS 8.4.2, and yeah the page was last touched on Saturday Jan 17 05:41:18 2026 — go build some polylines, ily, bye 🫶🌸

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