40:
1297:
must be limited to interspersing null shapes with the single shape type declared in the file's header. A shapefile must not contain both polyline and polygon data, for example, the descriptions for a well (point), a river (polyline), and a lake (polygon) would be stored in three separate datasets.
1296:
Because the shape type precedes each geometry record, a shapefile is technically capable of storing a mixture of different shape types. However, the specification states, "All the non-Null shapes in a shapefile are required to be of the same shape type." Therefore, this ability to mix shape types
194:
The shapefile format stores the geometry as primitive geometric shapes like points, lines, and polygons. These shapes, together with data attributes that are linked to each shape, create the representation of the geographic data. The term "shapefile" is quite common, but the format consists of a
1127:
Using this index, it is possible to seek backwards in the shapefile by, first, seeking backwards in the shape index (which is possible because it uses fixed-length records), then reading the record offset, and using that offset to seek to the correct position in the
1184:
file, which is used only by Esri software. The format is not documented by Esri. However it has been reverse-engineered and documented by the open source community. The 100-byte header is similar to the one in
1268:
values, ESRI software represents these values as zeros — a very serious issue for analyzing quantitative data, as it may skew representation and statistics if null quantities are represented as zero
282:
1241:
component files cannot exceed 2 GB (or 2 bytes) — around 70 million point features at best. The maximum number of feature for other geometry types varies depending on the number of vertices used.
1284:
Supported field types are: floating point (13 character storage), integer (4 or 9 character storage), date (no time storage; 8 character storage), and text (maximum 254 character storage)
1327:
814:
The variable-length record contents depend on the shape type, which must be either the shape type given in the file header or Null. The following are the possible shape types:
183:
The shapefile format is a digital vector storage format for storing geographic location and associated attribute information. This format lacks the capacity to store
1322:
491:. Each of the variable-length records includes a record-header component and a record-contents component. A detailed description of the file format is given in the
545:
The main file header is fixed at 100 bytes in length and contains 17 fields; nine 4-byte (32-bit signed integer or int32) integer fields followed by eight 8-byte (
1469:
191:
version 2 in the early 1990s. It is now possible to read and write geographical datasets using the shapefile format with a wide variety of software.
258:— shape index format; a positional index of the feature geometry to allow seeking forwards and backwards quickly {content-type: x-gis/x-shapefile}
1517:
Libraries – Open Source (Apache
License) Java libraries for reading/writing shapefiles and the associated dBase files (libraries are part of the
1486:
1316:
1539:
1415:
458:, so an implementer of the file formats must be very careful to respect the endianness of each field and treat it properly.
1306:
132:
95:
1168:
The names and values of attributes are not standardized, and will be different depending on the source of the shapefile.
707:
The file then contains any number of variable-length records. Each record is prefixed with a record header of 8 bytes:
511:
1139:
file. However, since a shapefile is supposed to always contain an index, doing so counts as repairing a corrupt file.
507:
1311:
665:
668:(MBR) of all shapes contained within the dataset; four doubles in the following order: min X, min Y, max X, max Y
488:
232:, legacy GIS software may expect that the filename prefix be limited to eight characters to conform to the DOS
1165:. The open-source shapefile C library, for example, calls its format "xBase" even though it's plain dBase IV.
523:
228:
file, but alone is incomplete for distribution as the other supporting files are required. In line with the
1514:
1510:
539:
102:
1534:
479:) contains the geometry data. Geometry of a given feature is stored as a set of vector coordinates. The
196:
164:
1076:
file, followed by any number of 8-byte fixed-length records which consist of the following two fields:
527:
434:
files, the shapes in each file correspond to each other in sequence (i.e., the first record in the
363:
184:
1264:(the main open source software library for reading and writing shapefile format datasets) support
1161:
IV format. The format is public knowledge, and has been implemented in many dBase clones known as
1132:
file. It is also possible to seek forwards an arbitrary number of records using the same method.
558:
531:
484:
389:
204:
50:
1072:
The index contains positional index of the feature geometry and the same 100-byte header as the
1358:
107:
546:
140:
120:
331:— a geocoding index for read-write datasets (ODB format) {content-type: x-gis/x-shapefile}
136:
514:, where the order is similarly (longitude latitude). Geometries may also support 3- or 4-
1197:
file contains all of the information necessary to successfully parse the spatial data.
530:. The user-defined M dimension can be used for one of many functions, such as storing
319:— an attribute index of the active fields in a table {content-type: x-gis/x-shapefile}
309:— a spatial index of the features that are read-only {content-type: x-gis/x-shapefile}
1528:
1218:
1181:
1050:: MBR, Number of parts, Number of points, Parts, Part types, Points, Z range, Z array
296:
128:
1422:
522:
and measure, respectively. A Z-dimension stores the elevation of each coordinate in
233:
1492:
510:, using the order (X Y) or (Easting Northing). This axis order is consistent for
1287:
Floating point numbers may contain rounding errors since they are stored as text
1222:
480:
236:
convention, though modern software applications accept files with longer names.
188:
39:
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1088:
775:
719:
572:
455:
371:
249:
152:
70:
17:
1470:"ArcGIS Desktop 9.3 Help – Geoprocessing considerations for shapefile output"
325:— a geocoding index for read-write datasets {content-type: x-gis/x-shapefile}
1503:
519:
515:
411:
381:
367:
526:, which can be used for analysis or for visualisation of geometries using
1506:– Open Source (MIT License) Python library for reading/writing shapefiles
1383:
1214:
934:: MBR, Number of parts, Number of points, Parts, Points, Z range, Z array
913:: MBR, Number of parts, Number of points, Parts, Points, Z range, Z array
407:
148:
144:
1518:
1272:
1252:
standard. This database format inherently has a number of limitations:
496:
195:
collection of files with a common filename prefix, stored in the same
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265:
156:
1497:
1401:
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It is possible to generate the complete index file given a lone
535:
415:
268:
IV format {content-type: application/octet-stream OR text/plain}
216:
160:
124:
85:
283:
well-known text representation of coordinate reference systems
696:
Range of M; two doubles in the following order: min M, max M
682:
Range of Z; two doubles in the following order: min Z, max Z
1157:
This file stores the attributes for each shape; it uses the
121:
data format for geographic information system (GIS) software
264:— attribute format; columnar attributes for each shape, in
1213:
The shapefile format does not have the ability to store
1189:. It is not currently implemented by other vendors. The
1008:: MBR, Number of parts, Number of points, Parts, Points
987:: MBR, Number of parts, Number of points, Parts, Points
870:
MBR, Number of parts, Number of points, Parts, Points
859:
MBR, Number of parts, Number of points, Parts, Points
187:
information. The shapefile format was introduced with
1328:
Comparison of geographic information systems software
623:
File length (in 16-bit words, including the header)
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1205:The shapefile format has a number of limitations.
763:Following the record header is the actual record:
506:The 2D axis ordering of coordinate data assumes a
955:: MBR, Number of points, Points, Z range, Z array
299:of the features {content-type: x-gis/x-shapefile}
44:A vector map, with points, polylines and polygons
1500:– Free c library for reading/writing shapefiles
1323:List of geographic information systems software
1225:do have the ability to store feature topology.
1217:relationships between shapes. The ESRI ArcInfo
131:for data interoperability among Esri and other
1278:Maximum length of field names is 10 characters
495:. This format should not be confused with the
285:{content-type: text/plain OR application/text}
135:. The shapefile format can spatially describe
1464:
1462:
1388:Geographic Information Systems Stack Exchange
248:— shape format; the feature geometry itself {
8:
1493:Esri – Understanding Topology and Shapefiles
438:file corresponds to the first record in the
32:
499:shape font source format, which shares the
1489:– Esri Webhelp docs for ArcGIS 10.0 (2010)
1193:file is not strictly necessary, since the
418:software {content-type: x-gis/x-shapefile}
454:files have various fields with different
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1347:
1345:
1343:
1078:
816:
765:
709:
556:
487:followed by one or more variable-length
1339:
1359:"ESRI Shapefile Technical Description"
1244:The attribute database format for the
31:
7:
1384:"qgis - Creating missing .shx file?"
1248:component file is based on an older
493:ESRI Shapefile Technical Description
374:{content-type: application/fgdc+xml}
352:(ArcGIS 8 and later) {content-type:
230:ESRI Shapefile Technical Description
123:. It is developed and regulated by
483:consists of a single fixed-length
281:— projection description, using a
25:
1317:Open Source Geospatial Foundation
1209:Topology and the shapefile format
794:Shape type (see reference below)
651:Shape type (see reference below)
1521:but could be used independently)
1421:. 4 October 2011. Archived from
1172:Shapefile spatial index format (
1121:Record length (in 16-bit words)
1107:Record offset (in 16-bit words)
752:Record length (in 16-bit words)
549:) signed floating point fields:
38:
1281:Maximum number of fields is 255
1029:: MBR, Number of points, Points
108:Shapefile Technical Description
1064:Shapefile shape index format (
881:MBR, Number of points, Points
119:format is a geospatial vector
1:
1307:Geographic information system
512:Geographic coordinate systems
337:— an attribute index for the
151:, representing, for example,
29:Geospatial vector data format
1275:field names or field storage
1143:Shapefile attribute format (
591:File code (always hex value
224:relates specifically to the
508:Cartesian coordinate system
1556:
1402:"Shapefile C Library V1.2"
1312:Open Geospatial Consortium
1150:
666:Minimum bounding rectangle
392:to be used {content-type:
167:that describe it, such as
1487:Shapefile file extensions
518:Z and M coordinates, for
37:
1504:Python Shapefile Library
1447:Cepicky, Jachym (2017).
738:Record number (1-based)
703:Shapefile record headers
467:Shapefile shape format (
163:. Each item usually has
71:Internet media type
1540:GIS vector file formats
1453:switchfromshapefile.org
1449:"Switch from Shapefile"
366:in XML format, such as
1472:. Esri. 24 April 2009.
561:of a .shp file format
410:spatial index used by
388:) for identifying the
380:— used to specify the
1498:shapelib.maptools.org
534:measures or relative
133:GIS software products
609:Unused; five uint32
528:3D computer graphics
341:file in the form of
252:: x-gis/x-shapefile}
1056:: M range, M array
1035:: M range, M array
1014:: M range, M array
993:: M range, M array
961:: M range, M array
940:: M range, M array
919:: M range, M array
562:
364:geospatial metadata
205:filename extensions
34:
1292:Mixing shape types
1256:While the current
557:
532:linear referencing
446:files, etc.). The
390:character encoding
129:open specification
51:Filename extension
1428:on 13 August 2016
1271:Poor support for
1233:The size of both
1180:This is a binary
1125:
1124:
1061:
1060:
812:
811:
759:Shapefile records
756:
755:
700:
699:
553:Shapefile headers
406:— an alternative
398:x-gis/x-shapefile
354:x-gis/x-shapefile
113:
112:
82:Developed by
76:x-gis/x-shapefile
16:(Redirected from
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475:The main file (
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422:In each of the
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240:Mandatory files
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1481:External links
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1260:standard, and
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1535:Open formats
1452:
1442:
1430:. Retrieved
1423:the original
1416:"SBN Format"
1410:
1396:
1387:
1377:
1365:. Retrieved
1295:
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1229:Data storage
1223:geodatabases
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462:File formats
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250:content-type
234:8.3 filename
229:
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200:
199:. The three
193:
182:
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127:as a mostly
116:
114:
26:
1519:AFC Library
1215:topological
1201:Limitations
1044:MultiPatch
878:MultiPoint
516:dimensional
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