gdalbuildvrt does not support ungeoreferenced image

Question

I'm trying to create a VRT file from a GeoTIFF file using the following command:

gdalbuildvrt.exe "C:\Temp\3533.vrt" "C:\Temp\3533.tiff"

However it returns this error:

Warning 6: gdalbuildvrt does not support ungeoreferenced image. Skipping C:\Temp\3533.tiff

I then inspected the file's metadata:

gdalinfo "C:\Temp\3533.tiff"

Which confirmed it was georeferenced:

Driver: GTiff/GeoTIFF
Files: C:\Temp\3533.tiff
Size is 256, 256
GCP Projection =
GEOGCRS["WGS 84",
    DATUM["World Geodetic System 1984",
        ELLIPSOID["WGS 84",6378137,298.257223563,
            LENGTHUNIT["metre",1]]],
    PRIMEM["Greenwich",0,
        ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433]],
    CS[ellipsoidal,2],
        AXIS["latitude",north,
            ORDER[1],
            ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433]],
        AXIS["longitude",east,
            ORDER[2],
            ANGLEUNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433]],
    ID["EPSG",4326]]
Data axis to CRS axis mapping: 2,1
GCP[  0]: Id=1, Info=
          (0,0) -> (130.517578125,-15.7076627695835,0)
GCP[  1]: Id=2, Info=
          (256,0) -> (130.60546875,-15.7076627695835,0)
GCP[  2]: Id=3, Info=
          (256,256) -> (130.60546875,-15.7922535703624,0)
GCP[  3]: Id=4, Info=
          (0,256) -> (130.517578125,-15.7922535703624,0)
Metadata:
  AREA_OR_POINT=Area
Image Structure Metadata:
  INTERLEAVE=PIXEL
Corner Coordinates:
Upper Left  (    0.0,    0.0)
Lower Left  (    0.0,  256.0)
Upper Right (  256.0,    0.0)
Lower Right (  256.0,  256.0)
Center      (  128.0,  128.0)
Band 1 Block=256x10 Type=Byte, ColorInterp=Red
Band 2 Block=256x10 Type=Byte, ColorInterp=Green
Band 3 Block=256x10 Type=Byte, ColorInterp=Blue

Is the GeoTIFF missing something that is required by gdalbuildvrt.exe?

Answer 1

The message about not georeferenced image is partly misleading. The georeferencing method that gdalbuildvrt support is the affine GeoTransform https://gdal.org/user/raster_data_model.html. Your image is georeferenced with Ground Control Points (GCP).

GDAL datasets have two ways of describing the relationship between raster positions (in pixel/line coordinates) and georeferenced coordinates. The first, and most commonly used is the affine transform (the other is GCPs).

The problem with using GCP georeferencing with gdalbuildvrt is probably that each image in the VRT mosaic would need to be handled with different parameters, computed by the corresponding ground control points. If you want to convert just one image into VRT use gdal_translate instead

gdal_translate -of VRT buildvrt.exe "C:\Temp\3533.tiff" "C:\Temp\3533.vrt"

If you need to build a VRT mosaic from many images which are georeferenced with GCPs you must first convert them so that they use the affine geotransformation. That can be done with gdalwarp

gdalwarp -of GTiff "C:\Temp\3533.tiff" "C:\Temp\3533Affine.tiff"

Gdalbuildvrt will work with 3533Affine.tiff.

Answer 2

To give the GeoTIFF file proper georeference data, use the -a_ullr argument.

gdal_translate.exe -of GTiff -a_ullr {upper_left_longitude} {upper_left_latitude} {lower_right_longitude} {lower_right_latitude} "C:\Temp\3533.jpg" "C:\Temp\3533.tiff"

Then inspect the file's metadata:

gdalinfo "C:\Temp\3533.tiff"

It shows that the Corner Coordinates value is populated:

Driver: GTiff/GeoTIFF
Files: C:\Temp\3533.tiff
Size is 256, 256
Origin = (130.517578125000000,-15.707662769583502)
Pixel Size = (0.000343322753906,-0.000330432815543)
Image Structure Metadata:
  INTERLEAVE=PIXEL
Corner Coordinates:
Upper Left  ( 130.5175781, -15.7076628)
Lower Left  ( 130.5175781, -15.7922536)
Upper Right ( 130.6054688, -15.7076628)
Lower Right ( 130.6054688, -15.7922536)
Center      ( 130.5615234, -15.7499582)
Band 1 Block=256x10 Type=Byte, ColorInterp=Red
Band 2 Block=256x10 Type=Byte, ColorInterp=Green
Band 3 Block=256x10 Type=Byte, ColorInterp=Blue