Split Lines by Length

Draft: written, not yet checked by a person Operation · split-lines-by-length

Cuts each line into pieces of a given length, with a shorter last piece.

Pitfall. Some tools make all pieces equal (and shorter than the length) instead of leaving a short last piece.

Pitfall. In a geographic CRS the length is in degrees unless the engine measures on the ellipsoid.

About this operation
Also called	Split Line By Length, chunk lines, line chunk, segment lines
Group	`vector/geometry`
Checks	`crs.measure`
Pitfalls	2 listed above
Columbus tool	Not stated
Notes	Not stated
Status	active
Broader	Not stated
Narrower	Not stated
Related	`explode-lines` `points-along-lines` `densify`

Parameters

Name	Type	Required	Default	Values	Note
`length`	length	yes	Not stated	Not stated	Not stated
`unit`	enum	yes	Not stated	`m, ft, us-ft, km, mi`	Not stated

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

Engine	Tool	Parameters	Differences
`grass`	`v.split`	`length` → `length` `unit` → `units` : m = meters; ft = feet; us-ft = surveyfeet; km = kilometers; mi = miles `layer` → `input` `output` → `output`	Splits into equal pieces no longer than the length unless flag f is set; this mapping sets f, for pieces of the given length and a shorter last one. Preset: `{"flag_f":true}`
`qgis`	`native:splitlinesbylength`	`length` → `LENGTH` `unit` always crs-units `layer` → `INPUT` `output` → `OUTPUT`	None noted
`turf-js`	`turf.lineChunk`	`length` → `segmentLength` `unit` → `options.units` : m = meters; ft = feet; km = kilometers; mi = miles. not supported: us-ft `layer` → `geojson`	units defaults to kilometers. Turf works on GeoJSON in longitude/latitude (WGS 84); data in another CRS must be reprojected first.