| Interface | Description |
|---|---|
| ShpPointShape |
Abstract interface for points with X and Y coordinates - Specifically
ShpPoint, ShpPointM and ShpPointZ.
|
| ShpShape |
Interface for geometric shapes from a shapefile or ESRI geodatabase.
|
| Class | Description |
|---|---|
| SdePoint |
An (x, y) point in an ArcSDE geometry shape.
|
| SdePointM | |
| SdePointZ | |
| SdePointZM | |
| SdeShape |
A shape object as stored in ESRI ArcSDE.
|
| ShapeByteReader |
Reads the low-level values used in the shapefile format.
|
| ShapeByteWriter |
Writes the low-level values used in the shapefile format.
|
| ShapeConstants |
Numeric constants found in shapefile and related formats.
|
| ShapefileDataRecordSource |
Treats an ESRI shapefile as a tabular DataRecordSource.
|
| ShapefileHeader | |
| ShapefileReader |
Reads the ShapeRecords from a Shapefile.
|
| ShapefileRecord | |
| ShapeLib |
Library methods for ESRI shapes.
|
| ShpCurve |
Curved arcs are not specified in the ESRI shapefile document; however they do
occur in Arc/Info shapes.
|
| ShpMultiPatch |
ESRI's all-in-one polygon/patch/mesh thing.
|
| ShpMultiPoint |
ESRI's multiple-point shape in (x, y) space.
|
| ShpMultiPointM |
ESRI's multiple-point shape in (x, y, m) space.
|
| ShpMultiPointZ |
ESRI's multiple-point shape in (x, y) space.
|
| ShpNull |
A null shape.
|
| ShpPoint |
A two-dimensional ESRI point.
|
| ShpPointM |
A two-dimensional ESRI point with additional measure value.
|
| ShpPointZ |
A three-dimensional ESRI point.
|
| ShpPolyCurve |
Curved arcs are not specified in the ESRI shapefile document; however they do
occur in Arc/Info shapes.
|
| ShpPolygon |
ESRI's multiple part (ring) polygon in (x, y) space.
|
| ShpPolygonM |
ESRI's multiple-section, multiple part polygon in (x, y) space with measure
factor (m).
|
| ShpPolygonZ |
ESRI's multiple-section, multiple part polyline in (x, y, z) space with
measure factor (m).
|
| ShpPolyLine |
ESRI's multiple-section, multiple part polyline in (x, y) space.
|
| ShpPolyLineM |
ESRI's multiple-section, multiple part polyline in (x, y) space with measure
factor (m).
|
| ShpPolyLineZ |
ESRI's multiple-section, multiple part polyline in (x, y, z) space with
measure factor (m).
|
| ShpReader |
Reads ShpRecord objects from a .shp file.
|
| ShpRecord |
A record in an .shp file (as opposed to ShapefileRecord, a record in a shapefile, which is three or more actual files).
|
| Enum | Description |
|---|---|
| ShapeType |
Shape types defined by ESRI, both in shapefiles and geodatabases.
|
| ShpMultiPatchPartType |
The different kinds of parts found in a MultiPatch object.
|
Shapefile is an open GIS format published and used by ESRI. The term is a bit misleading, since in practice a "shapefile" consists of at least three files, with the same name with different extensions:
The .shx file is not strictly necessary for reading the data, it is used to optimize display. There may be other files as well, these are either extensions to the .dbf format (.dbx, etc.) or legend or thematic information. However, the core of the format is the combination of geometry from the .shp file with data from the .dbf.
Record numbers are used to tie the files together in a one-to-one relationship. For example, shape #288 in the .shp file corresponds to data record #288 in the .dbf file.
Only one type of geometry can be stored in a given shapefile, and only one tabular data definition. You can picture a shapefile as being a table of data values; each column has a field name, and there is an extra field storing the geometry. More complex data models must be defined externally to the shapefile format itself.
The binary structure of geometric shapes in this format is also used in ESRI Arc/Info geodatabase formats. In fact, an ESRI personal geodatabase (.mdb format) can be thought of as a set of shapefiles stored in a relational database. The situation with Arc/SDE is more complex, since it has its own coordinate storage format and some of its own geometry formats in addition to shapefile standards. This package does support some of those extensions (e.g. bulged polylines).
In general, types pertaining to the shapefile and personal geodatabase format are prefixed with Shp, and those pertaining to the Arc/Info SDE format are prefixed with Sde. All geometric types follow the Immutable pattern for the same reasons that com.partnersoft.geometry.xy does.
ESRI publishes the format in a short, straightforward document. At time of writing it was available here: www.esri.com/library/whitepapers/pdfs/shapefile.pdf.
Wikipedia also has a good introduction at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shapefile.
Copyright 2006-2007 Partner Software, Inc.