buffer a polygon

[Malcolm Williamson]

Daniel H. Rdoriguez writes: 

> 	What is the best way of buffering a polygon or line vector file.
> We were able to buffer a site (point) file with s.poly. Is there a command which will buffer a line or a polygon ?

GRASS analysis is performed 99% in the raster realm. Use v.to.rast to convert
lines and polygons ("areas") to raster format, then use r.buffer to do your 
buffering. r.poly converts back to vector format, with the -l flag initiating
a smoothing option. Obviously resolution is a very important issue in these
conversions - make sure that yours is appropriate for you data and you 
application.


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Malcolm D. Williamson - Technical Assistant      E-mail: malcolm at cast.uark.edu
Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies      Telephone: (501) 575-5736
Ozark Rm. 214                                       Fax: (501) 575-3846 
University of Arkansas              
Fayetteville, AR 72701

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