Convert a shapefile (.shp) to xml/json

Question

I'm working with a shapefile (.shp, .dbf, etc) and would like to convert it to xml. I'm on a mac, and I'm having trouble finding an application that will help me with the conversion. Does anyone know of a method for converting this file format into an xml file?

Also you can try to use http://techslides.com/demos/mapping/shapefile-geojson-converter.html It is online and works fine for me. — gis_wild, Jan 27 '13 at 22:17

score 95 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 10 '17 at 16:23

95

What dassouki said. Get GDAL from http://www.kyngchaos.com/software:frameworks. Use it to convert a shapefile to GeoJSON like this:

$ ogr2ogr -f "GeoJSON" output.json input.shp

eg

$ ogr2ogr -f "GeoJSON" /tmp/world.json world_borders.shp world_borders
$ cat /tmp/world.json
{
"type": "FeatureCollection",
"features": [
{ "type": "Feature", "properties": { "CAT": 1.000000, "FIPS_CNTRY": "AA",
  "CNTRY_NAME": "Aruba", "AREA": 193.000000, "POP_CNTRY": 71218.000000 }, 
  "geometry": { "type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [ [ [ -69.882233, ...
  ...

edited Jul 10 '17 at 16:23

Brian Burns

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answered Feb 12 '10 at 12:49

sgillies

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Also exists in homebrew! `brew install gdal` – Diolor Feb 27 '14 at 17:09
2

Any tips on getting an `xml` output? – gregmacfarlane Jul 01 '14 at 12:45
This worked for some huge shapefiles (~500MB), where others crashed (eg QGIS) – Brian Burns Jul 10 '17 at 16:24
This works great! Just don't forget to add projection if used for OpenStreetMap as argument: -t_srs crs:84 – PetrV May 10 '21 at 18:16

score 46 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 08 '10 at 18:56

46

GDAL is your friend. Use the ogr2ogr libraries, and here's a cheat sheet.

If you want a good GIS application, install QGIS and download the gdal converter plugin

answered Feb 08 '10 at 18:56

dassouki

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score 31 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 28 '11 at 00:06

31

I've found this website that converts loads of Geo formats: http://mygeodata.eu/apps/converter/index_en.html

In less than 2 minutes I was able to convert a ShapeFile zip to a GeoJson file!

(I was trying GDAL at the same time and it's still downloading...)

answered Nov 28 '11 at 00:06

Giorgio

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Why you have passed the shapefile's name without any extension (highlighted with bold) as last parameter in the following command? ogr2ogr -f "GeoJSON" /tmp/world.json world_borders.shp **world_borders** – JayeshMori Aug 31 '12 at 00:29
Thank you for this link. I was able to take a series of shape file outputs and convert them to GeoJSON instantly. – uadrive May 14 '13 at 03:07
This was the easiest solution for me. Thanks for the link. – ShadeTreeDeveloper Jul 19 '13 at 12:36
1

link is now dead (404), try http://converter.mygeodata.eu/ although the tool didn't work for me – sham Apr 09 '15 at 22:16

score 8 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 02 '15 at 10:29

8

This online converter worked for me

http://mapshaper.org/

I uploaded my .shp file, Then exported it to GeoJson.

answered Aug 02 '15 at 10:29

iYazee6

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score 3 · Answer 5 · answered Feb 09 '10 at 05:23

I can also offer a very round about answer.

Put geoserver on your machine (you can download a self contained zip file)

Set up a datastore that points to your shapefile.

Set up a layer that points to your datastore

Go to the preview layers page and ask for a WFS as GML preview

Voila - an xml representation of your shapefile.

Convert a shapefile (.shp) to xml/json

5 Answers5

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