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.
The related OGR library (OGR Simple Features Library), 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.
Software using GDAL/OGR
Several software programs use the GDAL/OGR libraries to allow them to read and write multiple GIS formats. Such programs include: ArcGIS – Uses GDAL for custom raster formats Avenza MAPublisher - GIS and mapping tools for Adobe Illustrator. Uses GDAL for coordinate system transformation, format reading & writing, geometry operations, & unit conversion. Avenza Geographic Imager - Spatial imaging tools for Adobe Photoshop. Uses GDAL for coordinate system transformation, format reading & writing, & unit conversion. Avenza Maps - iOS & Android mobile mapping application. Uses GDAL to read metadata information for geospatial maps / data to transform them to WGS84 for offline navigation. Biosphere3D – Open source landscape scenery globe Biotop Invent Cadwork ENVI – Remote Sensing software ERDAS APOLLO - Image Server and remote sensing geo-services ERDAS GeoCompressor - Image compression to ECW and JP2 formats Geoconcept integrated GDAL in its 7.1 release FWTools – A cross-platform open source GIS software bundle compiled by Frank Warmerdam gdaltokmz – A Python module translating from GDAL-supported raster graphics formats to the Google Earth KMZ format GeoDjango – Django's support for GIS-enabled databases GeoDMS - A framework for building spatial calculation models. GeoView Pro – iOS mobile mapping application Google Earth – A virtual globe and world imaging program GRASS GIS gvSIG JMap MangoMap MapServer MS4W - MapServer for Windows, a widely popular installer for the MapServer community, using GDAL for data access. MapWindow GIS - Open Source C++ based geographic information system, ActiveX Control, and application programmer interface Merkaartor NASA Ames Stereo Pipeline, an open-source software package for photogrammetry World Wind Java – NASA's open source virtual globe and world imaging technology Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSSIM) – Libraries and applications used to process imagery, maps, terrain, and vector data OpenEV – Geospatial toolkit and a frontend to that toolkit; to display georeferenced images and elevation data Orfeo toolbox – A satellite image processing library QGIS R – An open source statistical software with extensions for spatial data analysis. SAGA GIS – A cross-platform open source GIS software TopoQuest – Internet topographic map viewer Rolta Geomatica software
Supported raster data formats
As of version 2.2.3, GDAL/OGR provides at least partial support for 154 raster and 93 vector geospatial data formats. A subset of data formats is supported to ensure the ability to directly create files and georeferencing them with the default GDAL compiling options.
Here follows the list of data formats whose support is, by default, compiled to allow creation and georeferencing.
Supported vector data formats
GDAL supports a variety of vector data formats as seen here. It is extensible as well.