![]() For example, here’s a single point on a map, along with some metadata associated with the location: It’s moderately human readable, since XML is written in plain text. Earth View became Google Earth, and the Keyhole Markup Language became a popular format for describing geographic data. And before Google Earth, there was Earth Viewer, made by Keyhole, Inc., later acquired by Google. Keyhole Markup: KML, KMZīefore there was Google Maps, there was Google Earth. There is also an open source geographic data editor, QGIS, which can read and write shapefiles. Several Esri products in the ArcGIS suite of desktop software support shapefiles, including the free ArcGIS Explorer. To read shapefiles, you need software that understands the format. Shapefiles can contain any of these files. This file describes how to convert three dimensional data (i.e., shapes on the earth) to a two dimensional representation. prj, which contains the projection details. While not required, another common file is. dbf is a database format that contains additional data that is not necessarily geographic, such as names/labels for your shapes. shp file data, compiled into a binary format which makes it easier for applications like ArcGIS to access the data. shp is what gives it the name shapefile and where the geometric features are described, such as lines, points, and polygons. For every shapefile, at least three files are required: The singular “shapefile” is a misnomer, as there are actually multiple files needed to describe the geographic data in a shapefile. ![]() Shapefile is a popular format for geographic data originally defined by Esri, the company behind ArcGIS and other GIS software. We’ll explain how you would use each type, how you might convert them, and how they help you build a map. We’ve compiled the most common data file types for GIS and other mapping data. But that data itself can be quite difficult to understand, with each format a little (or a lot) different from the others. It’s no wonder that there are so many ways to describe it using geographic data.
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