How do I combine GeoTIFF files covering the same area but storing different data into a single file?

Question

I have shapefile cutouts (same shapefile across all images) of different GeoTIFF rasters (with different metadata and sometimes resolutions). How do I merge them into a single GeoTIFF file?

I'm well versed in Python but completely new to GIS, GDAL, and QGIS. Command line, code, and GUI based solutions are all fine.

Do you want your images depth-stacked together (like a sandwich?) or are the cutouts of different geographic areas that need to be mosaiced together? — Charlie Parr, Jun 13 at 23:31
I find GDALBuildVRT docs.qgis.org/2.8/en/docs/user_manual/processing_algs/gdalogr/… very handy, it creates an XML referencing the existing images into a single (small) file which can be used like a single image, from here you can use gdal_translate (QGIS translate raster docs.qgis.org/2.8/en/docs/user_manual/processing_algs/gdalogr/…) to convert the VRT into a single raster. Both are command line tools if you're not afraid of command line/batch or interested in learning. — Michael Stimson, Jun 14 at 2:40
@Charlie Part, like a sandwich. The only adjustment I'd be making is matching resolutions, but all the TIFFs cover the same area — Uros Perisic, Jun 15 at 0:05
@ Michael Stimson, that's really cool actually. Could really use it given that only one cities I'm working on already took up 20 GiB of space — Uros Perisic, Jun 15 at 0:07

Charlie Parr · Accepted Answer · 2019-06-17 18:48:04Z

From the command line, execute this command inside the directory of GeoTIFF rasters you wish to stack (like a sandwich) together:

gdal_merge.py -o your_depth_stack.tif -ps x y -separate *.tif

This will stack all images inside the directory. If you only wish to stack a certain subset replace *.tif with the desired images: image1.tif image2.tif image3.tif etc.

x and y will control the spatial resolution of your output i.e. -ps 2 2 will generate 2x2 meter pixels if your data is in UTM, for example.

Other parameters (data type, output extent, etc.) can also be controlled. See the documentation https://gdal.org/programs/gdal_merge.html for more direction.

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