Rasterize

Draft: written, not yet checked by a person Operation · rasterize

Burns vector features into a raster grid, with a fixed value or a value from an attribute.

Pitfall. By default only cells whose centre falls inside a polygon are burned, so thin or small features can disappear.

Pitfall. Cells outside every feature are nodata in some engines and 0 in others.

About this operation
Also called	Feature To Raster, Polygon To Raster, Vector To Raster, burn
Group	`conversion/vector-to-raster`
Checks	`crs.present, raster.nodata`
Pitfalls	2 listed above
Columbus tool	Not stated
Notes	Not stated
Status	active
Broader	Not stated
Narrower	Not stated
Related	`raster-to-polygons`

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Default	Values	Note
`resolution`	number	yes	Not stated	Not stated	Cell size, in the layer's CRS units.
`value`	number	no	`1`	Not stated	Value burned into cells covered by a feature.
`field`	field	no	Not stated	Not stated	Burn this attribute's value instead of a fixed value.
`all_touched`	boolean	no	`no`	Not stated	Burn every cell a feature touches, not only cells whose centre it covers.

Inputs and outputs

Direction	Name	Type	Geometry	Note
Input	`layer`	vector	Not stated	Not stated
Output	`output`	raster	Not stated	Not stated

In each engine

Engine	Tool	Parameters	Differences
`gdal`	`gdal vector rasterize`	`resolution` → `resolution` : x and y: --resolution 10,10. `value` → `burn` `field` → `attribute-name` `all_touched` → `all-touched` `layer` → `input` `output` → `output`	With a resolution and no extent, the grid starts half a cell outside the features: a 50 m by 30 m rectangle at 10 m cells gives a 6 by 4 grid. Give extent, or target-aligned-pixels, to control it. Cells outside every feature get init (default 0), not nodata, unless nodata is set.
`geocube`	`geocube.api.core.make_geocube`	`resolution` A pair, (-res, res). `value` Rasterizes columns; add a constant column for a fixed value. `field` → `measurements` : A list of columns to rasterize. `layer` → `vector_data`	Returns an xarray Dataset with one variable per column.
`grass`	`v.to.rast`	`resolution` Set by the computational region (g.region res=...). `value` → `value` `field` Set use = attr and attribute_column; this mapping burns a fixed value (use = val). `all_touched` Use the d flag for dense lines; areas burn cell centres. `layer` → `input` `output` → `output`	None noted Preset: `{"use":"val"}`
`postgis-raster`	`st_asraster`	`resolution` scalex and scaley: the cell size, with scaley negative. `value` → `value` `field` Pass the column as value. `all_touched` → `touched` `layer` → `geom`	Per geometry; union the features first (ST_Union) or use ST_AsRaster with a reference raster for a common grid.
`qgis`	`gdal:rasterize`	`resolution` Set UNITS = 1 (georeferenced units) and give the cell size as both WIDTH and HEIGHT. `value` → `BURN` `field` → `FIELD` `all_touched` Pass -at in EXTRA. `layer` → `INPUT` `output` → `OUTPUT`	None noted
`rasterio`	`rasterio.features.rasterize`	`resolution` Give out_shape and transform instead (rasterio.transform.from_origin(west, north, res, res)). `value` → `default_value` `field` Pass (geometry, value) pairs as shapes. `all_touched` → `all_touched` `layer` → `shapes`	Returns an array; cells outside every shape get fill (default 0).
`terra`	`terra::rasterize`	`resolution` y is a template raster; make one with rast(x, resolution = res). `value` → `values` `field` → `field` `all_touched` → `touches` `layer` → `x`	Cells outside every feature get background (default NA).
`whiteboxtools`	`VectorPolygonsToRaster`	`resolution` → `cell_size` `value` Burns a field's values; field defaults to FID. `field` → `field` `all_touched` always no `layer` → `input` `output` → `output`	Polygons only (VectorLinesToRaster and VectorPointsToRaster are separate tools); base can give a raster whose grid to match.