# GDAL
[](https://docs.rs/gdal)
[GDAL](http://gdal.org/) is a translator and processing library for various raster and vector geospatial data formats.
This crate provides safe, idiomatic [Rust](http://www.rust-lang.org/) bindings for GDAL.
## Capabilities
GDAL is an incredibly powerful library. For a general understanding of its capabilities, a good place to get started is the [GDAL User-oriented documentation](https://gdal.org/user/index.html). These features include:
* Opening raster and vector file formats for reading/writing
* Translating between file formats
* Reading and writing metadata in raster and vector datasets
* Accessing raster bands and their metadata
* Reading and writing geospatial coordinate system and projection values
* Warping (resampling and re-projecting) between coordinate systems
## Documentation
This crate's [API documentation](https://docs.rs/crate/gdal) is hosted on [docs.rs](https://docs.rs).
The Rust documentation is currently a work in progress, and may not cover requisite details on parameter semantics, value interpretation, etc.
Therefore, the authoritative documentation is that of GDAL in the form of its [C](https://gdal.org/api/index.html#c-api) and [C++](https://gdal.org/api/index.html#id3) APIs.
The former is technically what this crate calls, but the latter is usually more clear and better documented.
## Usage
This crate provides high-level, idiomatic Rust bindings for GDAL.
To do that, it uses [`gdal-sys`](gdal-sys) internally, a low-level interface to the GDAL C library, which is generated using [`bindgen`](https://rust-lang.github.io/rust-bindgen/).
Using the `gdal-sys` crate directly is normally not needed, but it can be useful in order to call APIs that have not yet been exposed in `gdal`.
Building this crate assumes a compatible version of GDAL is installed with the corresponding header files and shared libraries.
This repository includes pre-generated bindings for GDAL 2.4 through 3.6 (see the`gdal-sys/prebuilt-bindings` directory).
If you're compiling against a later version of GDAL, you can enable the `bindgen` feature flag to have new bindings generated on the fly.
## Community
This crate is part of the expansive (and expanding!) [`georust`](https://georust.org/) organization. Come join our discussions on [Discord](https://discord.gg/Fp2aape)!
## Contributing
This crate continues to evolve, and PRs are welcome. Make sure you are comfortable with the [Code of Conduct](CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md) and [License](LICENSE.txt) before submitting a PR.
## License
This library is released under the [MIT license](http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)