Resources

Shape file tools¶

Shape files are available from many sources and in numerous formats. The following applications may be useful when working with shape (.shp) files:

• Mapshaper: If you wish to view or simplify .shp files, you can download it from mapshaper.org.
• DBFExplorer: When you have .shp files, you may want to modify the .dbf file that contains the information about each shape. You can download a free DBF editor from pablosoftwaresolutions.com.

• FWTools: If you have a .shp file that doesn't conform to the WGS84 co-ordinate system, you need to convert it. You can do this using ogr2ogr, included in FWTools, which you can download from fwtools.maptools.org. Example usage (converts from British National Grid to WGS84):

  Text Only

  ogr2ogr -t_srs WGS84 -s_srs EPSG:27700 destination.shp source.shp