gdal vector simplify simplifies geometries, ensuring that the result is a valid geometry having the same dimension and number of components as the input. The simplification uses a maximum distance difference algorithm similar to the one used in the Douglas-Peucker algorithm. This done by the OGRGeometry::SimplifyPreserveTopology() method which preserves the topology per feature, but not for a whole layer. Thus gaps or overlaps between geometries that were initially contiguous may happen. To perform simplification that preserves shared boundaries between geometries, see gdal vector simplify-coverage. This command can also be used as a step of gdal vector pipeline.

GDALG output (on-the-fly / streamed dataset) This program supports serializing the command line as a JSON file using the GDALG output format. The resulting file can then be opened as a vector dataset using the GDALG: GDAL Streamed Algorithm driver, and apply the specified pipeline in a on-the-fly / streamed way.

Program-Specific Options --tolerance <TOLERANCE> The specified value of this option is the tolerance used to merge consecutive points of the output geometry using the OGRGeometry::SimplifyPreserveTopology() method The unit of the distance is in georeferenced units of the source layer.