DESCRIPTION

r.buffer.lowmem creates a new raster map showing buffer (a.k.a. "distance" or "proximity") zones around all cells that contain non-NULL category values in an existing raster map. The distances of buffer zones from cells with non-zero category values are user-chosen.

This is the low-memory alternative to the classic r.buffer module. It is much slower than the classic version, but will run on massive raster maps without using a lot of RAM. If your raster map is larger than 32000x32000 cells on a system with 1 GB of RAM, or larger than 90000x90000 cells on a system with 8 GB of RAM, consider using this module.

For more info see manual of r.buffer.

EXAMPLE

In the following example, the buffer zones would be (in the default units of meters): 0-100, 101-200, 201-300, 301-400 and 401-500. 
r.buffer.lowmem input=roads output=roads.buf distances=100,200,300,400,500
Result: 
r.category input=roads.buf

      1       distances calculated from these locations
      2       0-100 meters
      3       100-200 meters
      4       200-300 meters
      5       300-400 meters
      6       400-500 meters

SEE ALSO

g.region, r.buffer, r.cost, r.grow.distance, r.mapcalc, r.reclass, v.buffer

AUTHORS

Michael Shapiro, U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory
James Westervelt, U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory
Low-memory Python version by Glynn Clements