Selecting GDAL driver for writing KML file from TIFF

Question

I have some DEM data from USGS which I'm trying to write as a contour map to a KML file. I'm working with GDAL 3.4.1. , which I installed using Anaconda

$ gdal_contour Downloads/USGS_13_n47w090_20240625.tif contours.kml -i 10
Warning 1: Several drivers matching kml extension. Using LIBKML
0...10...20...30...40...50...60...70...80...90...100 - done.
^C

When I run this, the program hangs and no file is produced.

When I try:

$ gdal_contour /Downloads/USGS_13_n47w090_20240625.tif /contour.shp -i 10.0

files are immediately produced.

I'm wondering if changing the KML driver could solve this problem (drivers listed at https://gdal.org/drivers/vector/index.html ).

How would I change the driver to KML from LIBKML?

Answer 1

A LIBKML write performance issue for large files was fixed in the newest version of gdal (version 3.9.1): issue

You can install this newest version via the conda-forge conda channel.