t.register(1grass)

NAME
t.register - Assigns timestamps and registers raster, vector and raster3d maps in a space time dataset.

KEYWORDS
temporal, map management, register, time

SYNOPSIS
t.register
t.register --help
t.register [-i] [input=name] [maps=name[,name,...]] [type=name] [file=name] [start=string] [end=string] [unit=string] [increment=string] [separator=character] [--overwrite] [--help] [--verbose] [--quiet] [--ui]

  Flags:

-i
    Create an interval (start and end time) in case an increment and the start time are provided

--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=name
    Name of the input space time dataset

maps=name[,name,...]
    Name of the input maps

type=name
    Type of the input map
    Options: raster, vector, raster_3d
    Default: raster

file=name
    Input file with map names, one per line
    Additionally the start time and the end time can be specified per line

start=string
    Valid start date and time of the first map
    Format for absolute time: "yyyy-mm-dd HH:MM:SS +HHMM", relative time is of type integer.

end=string
    Valid end date and time of all map
    Format for absolute time: "yyyy-mm-dd HH:MM:SS +HHMM", relative time is of type integer.

unit=string
    Time stamp unit
    Unit must be set in case of relative timestamps
    Options: years, months, days, hours, minutes, seconds

increment=string
    Time increment, works only in conjunction with start option
    Time increment between maps for creation of valid time intervals (format for absolute time: NNN seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years; format for relative time is of type integer: 5)

separator=character
    Field separator character of the input file
    Special characters: pipe, comma, space, tab, newline
    Default: pipe

DESCRIPTION
The module t.register has double functionality: it either only assigns timestamps to raster, 3D raster and vector maps in the temporal database (if input option is not provided, see below) or additionally, it also registers them within input space time datasets (stds). The existing timestamp modules r.timestamp, r3.timestamp and v.timestamp do not register the maps in the temporal database of GRASS GIS. However, timestamps that have been created with these modules can be read and used by t.register. This works only for maps that are not already registered in the temporal database.

If the input option is not used (i.e., no stds is provided), maps will be only registered in the temporal database with assigned timestamps. If, on the other hand, the input option is used and a stds is provided, maps will be first registered in the temporal database (if not registered before) and then, in the stds specified. If the user wants to register maps that are already registered in the temporal database in a different stds, there is no need to pass information regarding start and end time, t.register will read timestamps from the temporal database (i.e., in this case only passing map names will be enough).

Maps can be specified both with their fully qualified map name, meaning e.g. map@mapset and without the mapset name included. If the mapset name is not provided in the input, t.register will look for the given map on the current search path and assign the matching mapset. If the map is not found on the current search path the module will fail. Thus, registering maps with fully qualified map name is slightly faster.

The module t.register supports absolute and relative time. The absolute temporal type refers to a fixed date while the relative temporal type refers to data without fixed timestamps (e.g., sequential maps used to calculate multi-decadal averages).

Maps can be registered by command line argument (i.e., a list of comma separated map names) or using an input file. The start time, end time and a temporal increment can be provided through command line or in the input file. End time and increment are mutually exclusive. The user can register single maps or a list of maps at once. Maps can be registered in several space time datasets using the same timestamp. For the case of vector time series, the user can also register a single vector map connected to different layers representing time steps using the map:layer notation (See example below).

The increment option and the -i flag (to create time intervals) work only in conjunction with the start option. If an input file with timestamps (either start time or start time and end time) is used, then the increment option and the -i flag are not supported.

Start time and end time with absolute time must be provided using the format yyyy-mm-dd HH:MM:SS +HHMM. It is also supported to specify only the date yyyy-mm-dd. In case of relative time, the temporal unit (years, months, days, hours, minutes or seconds) must be provided. In this case, the relative start time, end time and increment are integers.

NOTES
The timestamps of registered maps will be stored in the temporal database and in the metadata of the grass maps in the spatial database. This assures that timestamps can always be accessed with (r|r3|v).timestamp and the temporal modules. Timestamps should only be modified with t.register because the (r|r3|v).timestamp modules have no access to the temporal database.

INPUT FILE FORMAT
There are several options to register maps by means of a file. The input file consists of a list of map names, optionally along with timestamps. Each map name (and timestaps if provided) should be stored in a new line in this file.

When only map names are provided, the increment option and the -i flag are supported. However, when along with map names any kind of timestamp is provided, as well, the increment option and the -i are no longer supported.

Specification of map names only (increment option and -i flag supported):

terra_lst_day20020113
terra_lst_day20020114
terra_lst_day20020115
terra_lst_day20020116
terra_lst_day20020117

Specification of map names and absolute start time (date) of the time instances (no support for increment option nor -i flag):

terra_lst_day20020113|2002-01-13
terra_lst_day20020114|2002-01-14
terra_lst_day20020115|2002-01-15
terra_lst_day20020116|2002-01-16
terra_lst_day20020117|2002-01-17

Specification of map names and absolute start time (datetime) of the time instances (no support for increment option nor -i flag):

terra_lst_day20020113|2002-01-13 10:30
terra_lst_day20020114|2002-01-14 10:30
terra_lst_day20020115|2002-01-15 10:30
terra_lst_day20020116|2002-01-16 10:30
terra_lst_day20020117|2002-01-17 10:30

Specification of map names and absolute time interval with start and end time (no support for increment option nor -i flag):

prec_1|2001-01-01|2001-04-01
prec_2|2001-04-01|2001-07-01
prec_3|2001-07-01|2001-10-01
prec_4|2001-10-01|2002-01-01
prec_5|2002-01-01|2002-04-01
prec_6|2002-04-01|2002-07-01

Same as above but with fully qualified map names (no support for increment option nor -i flag):

prec_1@PERMANENT|2001-01-01|2001-04-01
prec_2@PERMANENT|2001-04-01|2001-07-01
prec_3@PERMANENT|2001-07-01|2001-10-01
prec_4@PERMANENT|2001-10-01|2002-01-01
prec_5@PERMANENT|2002-01-01|2002-04-01
prec_6@PERMANENT|2002-04-01|2002-07-01

  Support for semantic labels
For more information about semantic labels and image collections see i.band.library module.

Specification of map names and absolute start time (datetime) of the time instances. The last column indicates related semantic label.

T33UYP_20190331T094039_B01|2019-03-31 09:40:39|S2_1
T33UYP_20190331T094039_B10|2019-03-31 09:40:39|S2_10
T33UYP_20190331T094039_B02|2019-03-31 09:40:39|S2_2
T33UYP_20190331T094039_B05|2019-03-31 09:40:39|S2_5
T33UYP_20190331T094039_B11|2019-03-31 09:40:39|S2_11
T33UYP_20190331T094039_B08|2019-03-31 09:40:39|S2_8
T33UYP_20190331T094039_B12|2019-03-31 09:40:39|S2_12
T33UYP_20190331T094039_B8A|2019-03-31 09:40:39|S2_8A
T33UYP_20190331T094039_B06|2019-03-31 09:40:39|S2_6
T33UYP_20190331T094039_B04|2019-03-31 09:40:39|S2_4
T33UYP_20190331T094039_B03|2019-03-31 09:40:39|S2_3
T33UYP_20190331T094039_B09|2019-03-31 09:40:39|S2_9

In this case t.register assigns to given raster maps a semantic label similarly as r.semantic.label does. Such registered raster maps is possible to filter by a semantic label.

Please note that raster maps with semantic labels assigned can be registered only in STRDS created in TGIS DB version 3 or higher. Older versions of TGIS DB are not supported. TGIS DB version can be checked t.connect module.

EXAMPLE

  North Carolina dataset

  Using a text file
Register maps in an absolute space time dataset, creating a time interval

# first:  prepare a text file with a list of input maps (see above)
# second: register maps
t.register -i type=raster input=precipitation_monthly \
    file=list_of_input_maps.txt start="2009-01-01" \
    increment="1 months"

  Using g.list to generate the input
Register maps in an absolute space time dataset, creating a time interval

t.register -i type=raster input=precipitation_monthly \
    maps=`g.list raster pattern="*precip*" sep=comma` start="2009-01-01" \
    increment="1 months"

  Register a vector map with layers representing time steps
Assume a vector map of points that represent meteorological stations and it is connected to different layers depicting daily time steps. In this example, only the fifth layer of the vector map will be registered.

# the layer is specified behind the colon
t.register type=vector input=meteo_stations_nc_daily \
    maps=meteo_stations_nc:5 start="2009-01-05"

  Synthetic maps
In this example we create 6 raster maps that will be registered in a single space time raster dataset named precip_abs using a monthly temporal granularity. The -i flag generates time intervals of the provided increment. The generated timestamps will be inspected using r.timestamp and t.rast.list. We will register an additional map with a timestamp that was set with r.timestamp.

r.mapcalc expression="prec_1 = 100"
r.mapcalc expression="prec_2 = 200"
r.mapcalc expression="prec_3 = 300"
r.mapcalc expression="prec_4 = 400"
r.mapcalc expression="prec_5 = 500"
r.mapcalc expression="prec_6 = 600"
t.create type=strds temporaltype=absolute \
    output=precip_abs title="Example" \
    descr="Example"
t.register -i type=raster input=precip_abs \
    maps=prec_1,prec_2,prec_3,prec_4,prec_5,prec_6 \
    start="2001-01-01" increment="1 months"
r.timestamp prec_1
1 Jan 2001 00:00:00 / 1 Feb 2001 00:00:00
r.timestamp prec_2
1 Feb 2001 00:00:00 / 1 Mar 2001 00:00:00
t.rast.list input=precip_abs
name|mapset|start_time|end_time
prec_1|PERMANENT|2001-01-01 00:00:00|2001-02-01 00:00:00
prec_2|PERMANENT|2001-02-01 00:00:00|2001-03-01 00:00:00
prec_3|PERMANENT|2001-03-01 00:00:00|2001-04-01 00:00:00
prec_4|PERMANENT|2001-04-01 00:00:00|2001-05-01 00:00:00
prec_5|PERMANENT|2001-05-01 00:00:00|2001-06-01 00:00:00
prec_6|PERMANENT|2001-06-01 00:00:00|2001-07-01 00:00:00
r.mapcalc expression="prec_7 = 700"
r.timestamp map=prec_7 date="1 jul 2001 / 1 aug 2001"
t.register type=raster input=precip_abs maps=prec_7
t.rast.list input=precip_abs
name|mapset|start_time|end_time
prec_1|PERMANENT|2001-01-01 00:00:00|2001-02-01 00:00:00
prec_2|PERMANENT|2001-02-01 00:00:00|2001-03-01 00:00:00
prec_3|PERMANENT|2001-03-01 00:00:00|2001-04-01 00:00:00
prec_4|PERMANENT|2001-04-01 00:00:00|2001-05-01 00:00:00
prec_5|PERMANENT|2001-05-01 00:00:00|2001-06-01 00:00:00
prec_6|PERMANENT|2001-06-01 00:00:00|2001-07-01 00:00:00
prec_7|PERMANENT|2001-07-01 00:00:00|2001-08-01 00:00:00

  Importing and registering ECA&D climatic data
The European Climate Assessment & Dataset (ECA&D) project offers the E-OBS dataset which is a daily gridded observational dataset for precipitation, temperature and sea level pressure in Europe based on ECA&D information. Download and decompress mean temperature data from: here.

# import E-OBS V12 into a lat-long project (alternatively, use r.external)
r.in.gdal -oe input=tg_0.25deg_reg_1950-1964_v12.0.nc \
  output=temperature_mean offset=0
r.in.gdal -oe input=tg_0.25deg_reg_1965-1979_v12.0.nc \
  output=temperature_mean offset=5479 --o
r.in.gdal -oe input=tg_0.25deg_reg_1980-1994_v12.0.nc \
  output=temperature_mean offset=10957 --o
r.in.gdal -oe input=tg_0.25deg_reg_1995-2015_v12.0.nc \
  output=temperature_mean offset=16436 --o
# create STRDS
t.create type=strds output=temperature_mean_1950_2015_daily \
  temporaltype=absolute semantictype=mean \
  title="European mean temperature 1950-2015" \
  description="The European daily mean temperature from ECAD"
# create text file with all temperature_mean rasters, one per line,
# a) using a shell script
for i in `seq 1 23922` ; do
    echo temperature_mean.$i >> map_list.txt
done
# b) using a Python script
file = open("map_list.txt", "w")
for i in range(23922):
    file.write("temperature_mean.%i\n" % (i + 1))
file.close()
# register daily maps using the file created above
t.register -i type=raster input=temperature_mean_1950_2015_daily \
              file=map_list.txt start="1950-01-01" increment="1 days"

SEE ALSO
r.timestamp, t.create, t.info

Maps registration examples in Temporal data processing Wiki

AUTHOR
Sören Gebbert, Thünen Institute of Climate-Smart Agriculture

SOURCE CODE

Available at: t.register source code (history)

Accessed: Thursday Oct 30 22:18:59 2025

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