diff --git a/doc/manual/design/GDAL.rst b/doc/manual/design/GDAL.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f9e99253d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/design/GDAL.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
+GDAL
+====
+
+GDAL (https://gdal.org/index.html) is a standard library for working with georeferenced raster and vector files, such as geotiffs and netcdfs. 
+Race provides wrappers for native GDAL executables to enable GDAL functions from a scala programming interface. 
+Since GDAL performs best when the native libraries are installed according to the operating system, RACE implementations
+wrappers to the commandline executables rather than a scala/java library. The wrappers provided in RACE use plain 
+english function names which correspond to specific executable commands.
+
+Requirements
+------------
+
+* exisiting gdal installation (https://gdal.org/download.html). If on Windows, we recommend installing via Anaconda in a dedicated environment
+
+
+  ex: 
+  `conda create -n gdal`
+  `conda activate gdal`
+  `conda install -c conda-forge gdal`
+
+gdalinfo
+--------
+
+gdalinfo extracts information about a specified file, including the georeferenced coordinate system.
+
+gdalwarp
+--------
+
+gdalwarp provides methods for modifying (warping) images, including reprojection and cropping.
+
+**Usage**:
+
+1. To use in scala, first create a new gdalwarp instance of the gov.nasa.race.earth.Gdal2Tiles class 
+by specifying the driver path, python path, input file, and output path:
+    
+.. code:: scala
+    val warpProg = new File("C:/mypath/gdalwarp.exe")
+    val inFile = new File("myinput.tif")
+    val outFile = new File("myoutput.tif")
+    val warp = new GdalWarp(prog = warpProg, inFile = inFile, outFile = outFile)
+
+2. Add any commands to the GdalWarp instance:
+.. code:: scala
+    val xMin = "-127.71"
+    val yMin = "34.91"
+    val xMax = "-115.79"
+    val yMax = "41.25"
+    warp.setTargetBounds( xMin, yMin, xMax, yMax)
+
+2. Execute the commands, remember the output is a future:
+
+.. code:: scala
+    val warpFuture = warp.exec
+    warpFuture.onComplete{
+        case Success(v) => println(v)
+        case Failure(e) => e.printStackTrace
+    }
+
+gdaltranslate
+-------------
+
+gdaltranslate provides methods for translating vector images to raster images (e.g., netcdf to geotiff).
+Usage is similar to GdalWarp.
+
+gdal2tiles
+----------
+
+The gdal2tiles-driver.py file allows scala applications (e.g., RACE-ODIN applications) to use the python gdal2tiles packages. 
+The core functionality of this pacakge is to reformat geotiffs into WMS tiles for data display.
+
+**Additional Requirements**:
+
+1. existing python installation (.exe) 
+2. gdal2tiles python package (https://gdal2tiles.readthedocs.io/en/latest/installation.html) installed in python environment which runs the exisiting executable from 1 (pip recommended) and has gdal installed
+
+    ex: 
+    `conda activate gdal`
+    `pip install gdal2tiles`
+
+**Usage**:
+
+1. To use in scala, first create a new gdal2tiles instance of the gov.nasa.race.earth.Gdal2Tiles class 
+by specifying the driver path, python path, input file, and output path:
+    
+.. code:: scala
+    val tilesProg = new File("C:/mypath/Anaconda3/python.exe")
+    val outputPath = new File("tiles")
+    val driverPath = new File("C:/mypath/gdal2tiles-driver.py")
+    val tiles = new Gdal2Tiles(prog = tilesprog, inFile = inFile, outputPath = outputPath, driverPath = driverPath)
+
+Note that the driverPath is in ".../race/race-earth/src/main/python/gdal2tiles/gdal2tiles-driver.py"
+
+2. Execute the new Gdal2Tiles instance to produce tiles, remember the output is a future:
+
+.. code:: scala
+    val tilesFuture = tiles.exec
+    tilesFuture.onComplete{
+        case Success(v) => println(v)
+        case Failure(e) => e.printStackTrace
+    }
+    Await.ready(tilesFuture, 60.seconds)
+
diff --git a/race-earth/src/main/python/gdal2tiles/gdal2tiles-driver.py b/race-earth/src/main/python/gdal2tiles/gdal2tiles-driver.py
index b7d5cc52a..3ee65ea7b 100644
--- a/race-earth/src/main/python/gdal2tiles/gdal2tiles-driver.py
+++ b/race-earth/src/main/python/gdal2tiles/gdal2tiles-driver.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/*
+"""
  * Copyright (c) 2022, United States Government, as represented by the
  * Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
  * All rights reserved.
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
  * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
  * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
  * limitations under the License.
- */
+"""
 import gdal2tiles
 import sys
 import os