Flags:

-f

List supported OGR formats and exit

-l

List available OGR layers in data source and exit

-o

Override projection check (use current project’s CRS)
Assume that the dataset has the same coordinate reference system (CRS) as the current project

--overwrite

Allow output files to overwrite existing files

--help

Print usage summary

--verbose

Verbose module output

--quiet

Quiet module output

--ui

Force launching GUI dialog

Parameters:

input=string [required]

Name of OGR datasource to be imported

layer=string[,string,...]

OGR layer name. If not given, all available layers are imported

output=name

Name for output vector map (default: input)

extent=string

Output vector map extent
Options: input, region
Default: input
input: extent of input map
region: extent of current region

encoding=string

Encoding value for attribute data

snap=float

Snapping threshold for boundaries (map units)
A suitable threshold is estimated during import
Default: -1

epsg=integer

EPSG projection code
Options: 1-1000000

datum_trans=integer

Index number of datum transform parameters
-1 to list available datum transform parameters
Options: -1-100

Supported Vector Formats

v.import uses the OGR library which supports various vector data formats including ESRI Shapefile, Mapinfo File, UK .NTF, SDTS, TIGER, IHO S-57 (ENC), DGN, GML, GPX, AVCBin, REC, Memory, OGDI, and PostgreSQL, depending on the local OGR installation. For details see the OGR web site. The OGR (Simple Features Library) is part of the GDAL library, hence GDAL needs to be installed to use v.import.

The list of actually supported formats can be printed by -f flag.

Topology cleaning

When importing polygons, non-topological polygons are converted to topological areas. If the input polygons contain errors (unexpected overlapping areas, small gaps between polygons, or warnings about being unable to calculate centroids), the import might need to be repeated using a snap value as suggested in the output messages. The default value of snap=-1 means that no snapping will be done.

The snap threshold defines the maximal distance from one to another vertex in map units (for latitude-longitude projects in degrees). If there is no other vertex within snap distance, no snapping will be done. Note that a too large value can severely damage area topology, beyond repair.

Post-processing: Snapped boundaries may need to be cleaned with v.clean, using its tools break,rmdupl,rmsa. For details, refer to the v.clean manual page.