What is a shapefile?

Modified on 2016/10/24 21:20 by Adam — Categorized as: FAQ

A shapefile is a geospatial vector data format used by GIS software that was created by ESRI. Points, lines, or polygons can all be contained within a shapefile along with attributes describing the data.
Three required file types make up a shapefile:

.shp
.shx
.dbf

Optional files

.prj

When imported into GIS software such as Surety^® Pro, shapefiles are automatically placed geospatially on the map.

Polygon boundaries and form data can also be exported from Surety and/or Surety Pro as a shape file.

Surety^® Pro also contains the ability to import other geospatial vector data file types including:

Google's geospatial vector file - .KML (Keyhole Markup Language)
(To import a .kmz file first change the file's extension from .kmz to .zip and extract the kml out of the compressed folder)
Database file - .GDB
Geography Markup Language - .GML
AutoCAD vector file .DXF
Geographical JSON file -.GeoJson