Comparison of Vector Formats (GIS)
Encyclopedia
The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of vector
GIS file formats
. Please see the individual products' articles for further information. This article is not all-inclusive or necessarily up-to-date. Unless otherwise specified in footnotes, comparisons are based on the stable versions without any add-ons, extensions or external programs.
Vector graphics
Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon, which are all based on mathematical expressions, to represent images in computer graphics...
GIS file formats
GIS file formats
A GIS file format is a standard of encoding geographical information into a file. They are created mainly by government mapping agencies or by GIS software developers.Metadata often includes:...
. Please see the individual products' articles for further information. This article is not all-inclusive or necessarily up-to-date. Unless otherwise specified in footnotes, comparisons are based on the stable versions without any add-ons, extensions or external programs.
General information
| Design Authority | Software license | |
|---|---|---|
| Geography Markup Language GML Geography Markup Language The Geography Markup Language is the XML grammar defined by the Open Geospatial Consortium to express geographical features. GML serves as a modeling language for geographic systems as well as an open interchange format for geographic transactions on the Internet... |
Open Geospatial Consortium Open Geospatial Consortium The Open Geospatial Consortium , an international voluntary consensus standards organization, originated in 1994. In the OGC, more than 400 commercial, governmental, nonprofit and research organizations worldwide collaborate in a consensus process encouraging development and implementation of open... |
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| AutoCAD DXF AutoCAD DXF AutoCAD DXF is a CAD data file format developed by Autodesk for enabling data interoperability between AutoCAD and other programs.... |
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| Shapefile Shapefile The Esri Shapefile or simply a shapefile is a popular geospatial vector data format for geographic information systems software. It is developed and regulated by Esri as a open specification for data interoperability among Esri and other software products.Shapefiles spatially describe geometries:... |
ESRI ESRI Esri is a software development and services company providing Geographic Information System software and geodatabase management applications. The headquarters of Esri is in Redlands, California.... |
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| Simple Features Simple Features Simple feature access , is both an OpenGIS and ISO Standard that specifies a common storage model of geographical data using well-known text . The geometries are also associated with spatial reference systems... |
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| MapInfo TAB format MapInfo TAB format The MapInfo TAB format is a popular geospatial vector data format for geographic information systems software. It is developed and regulated by MapInfo as a proprietary format.-File components:... |
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| National Transfer Format | ||
| TIGER Tiger The tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts... |
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| Cartesian coordinate system Cartesian coordinate system A Cartesian coordinate system specifies each point uniquely in a plane by a pair of numerical coordinates, which are the signed distances from the point to two fixed perpendicular directed lines, measured in the same unit of length... |
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| Vector Product Format Vector Product Format Vector Product Format is a military standard for vector-based digital map products produced by the U.S. Department of Defense . It has been adopted as part of DIGEST in the form of Vector Relational Format , so VPF can be considered to be an international standard as well.-External links:*... |
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| GeoMedia GeoMedia GeoMedia is the technology, suite of software components in Intergraph Corporation's geographic information system and family of software products that include: GeoMedia Objects, GeoMedia Viewer , GeoMedia, GeoMedia Professional, GeoMedia WebMap, GeoMedia WebMap Professional and others... |
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Feature Types
| Point | Multipoint | Line | Polyline | MultiPolyline | Polygon | Multipolygon | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal Geodatabase | |||||||
| Shapefile Shapefile The Esri Shapefile or simply a shapefile is a popular geospatial vector data format for geographic information systems software. It is developed and regulated by Esri as a open specification for data interoperability among Esri and other software products.Shapefiles spatially describe geometries:... |
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- Geography Markup LanguageGeography Markup LanguageThe Geography Markup Language is the XML grammar defined by the Open Geospatial Consortium to express geographical features. GML serves as a modeling language for geographic systems as well as an open interchange format for geographic transactions on the Internet...
(GML) - XML based open standard developed by the Open Geospatial ConsortiumOpen Geospatial ConsortiumThe Open Geospatial Consortium , an international voluntary consensus standards organization, originated in 1994. In the OGC, more than 400 commercial, governmental, nonprofit and research organizations worldwide collaborate in a consensus process encouraging development and implementation of open...
for GIS data exchange - AutoCAD DXFAutoCAD DXFAutoCAD DXF is a CAD data file format developed by Autodesk for enabling data interoperability between AutoCAD and other programs....
- Contour elevation plots in AutoCADAutoCADAutoCAD is a software application for computer-aided design and drafting in both 2D and 3D. It is developed and sold by Autodesk, Inc. First released in December 1982, AutoCAD was one of the first CAD programs to run on personal computers, notably the IBM PC...
DXF format - ShapefileShapefileThe Esri Shapefile or simply a shapefile is a popular geospatial vector data format for geographic information systems software. It is developed and regulated by Esri as a open specification for data interoperability among Esri and other software products.Shapefiles spatially describe geometries:...
- ESRIESRIEsri is a software development and services company providing Geographic Information System software and geodatabase management applications. The headquarters of Esri is in Redlands, California....
's open, hybrid vector data format using SHP, SHX and DBF files - Simple FeaturesSimple FeaturesSimple feature access , is both an OpenGIS and ISO Standard that specifies a common storage model of geographical data using well-known text . The geometries are also associated with spatial reference systems...
- Open Geospatial ConsortiumOpen Geospatial ConsortiumThe Open Geospatial Consortium , an international voluntary consensus standards organization, originated in 1994. In the OGC, more than 400 commercial, governmental, nonprofit and research organizations worldwide collaborate in a consensus process encouraging development and implementation of open...
specification for vector data - MapInfo TAB formatMapInfo TAB formatThe MapInfo TAB format is a popular geospatial vector data format for geographic information systems software. It is developed and regulated by MapInfo as a proprietary format.-File components:...
- MapInfoMapInfoMapInfo Corporation, initially incorporated as Navigational Technologies Incorporated, was a leading Location Intelligence and GIS company, headquartered in North Greenbush, New York. It was acquired on April 19, 2007 by Pitney Bowes, and on January 28, 2009, the name of division of Pitney Bowes it...
's vector data format using TAB, DAT, ID and MAP files - National Transfer Format (NTF) - National Transfer Format (mostly used by the UK Ordnance Survey)
- TIGERTigerThe tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...
- Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing - Cartesian coordinate systemCartesian coordinate systemA Cartesian coordinate system specifies each point uniquely in a plane by a pair of numerical coordinates, which are the signed distances from the point to two fixed perpendicular directed lines, measured in the same unit of length...
(XYZ) - Simple point cloud - Vector Product FormatVector Product FormatVector Product Format is a military standard for vector-based digital map products produced by the U.S. Department of Defense . It has been adopted as part of DIGEST in the form of Vector Relational Format , so VPF can be considered to be an international standard as well.-External links:*...
- National Geospatial-Intelligence AgencyNational Geospatial-Intelligence AgencyThe National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States with the primary mission of collecting, analyzing and distributing geospatial intelligence in support of national security. NGA was formerly known as the National Imagery and Mapping Agency ...
(NGA)'s format of vectored data for large geographic databases. - GeoMediaGeoMediaGeoMedia is the technology, suite of software components in Intergraph Corporation's geographic information system and family of software products that include: GeoMedia Objects, GeoMedia Viewer , GeoMedia, GeoMedia Professional, GeoMedia WebMap, GeoMedia WebMap Professional and others...
- IntergraphIntergraphIntergraph Corporation is an American software development and services company. It provides enterprise engineering and geospatially powered software to businesses, governments, and organizations around the world. Intergraph operates through two divisions: Process, Power & Marine and Security,...
's Microsoft AccessMicrosoft AccessMicrosoft Office Access, previously known as Microsoft Access, is a relational database management system from Microsoft that combines the relational Microsoft Jet Database Engine with a graphical user interface and software-development tools. It is a member of the Microsoft Office suite of...
based format for spatial vector storage. - ISFC - IntergraphIntergraphIntergraph Corporation is an American software development and services company. It provides enterprise engineering and geospatially powered software to businesses, governments, and organizations around the world. Intergraph operates through two divisions: Process, Power & Marine and Security,...
's MicroStationMicrostationMicroStation is a CAD software product for 2- and 3-dimensional design and drafting, developed and sold by Bentley Systems. The latest versions of the software are released solely for Microsoft Windows operating systems, but historically MicroStation was available for Macintosh platforms and a...
based CAD solution attaching vector elements to a relational Microsoft AccessMicrosoft AccessMicrosoft Office Access, previously known as Microsoft Access, is a relational database management system from Microsoft that combines the relational Microsoft Jet Database Engine with a graphical user interface and software-development tools. It is a member of the Microsoft Office suite of...
database - Personal Geodatabase - ESRIESRIEsri is a software development and services company providing Geographic Information System software and geodatabase management applications. The headquarters of Esri is in Redlands, California....
's closed, integrated vector data storage strategy using MicrosoftMicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's AccessMicrosoft AccessMicrosoft Office Access, previously known as Microsoft Access, is a relational database management system from Microsoft that combines the relational Microsoft Jet Database Engine with a graphical user interface and software-development tools. It is a member of the Microsoft Office suite of...
MDB format - File Geodatabase - ESRIESRIEsri is a software development and services company providing Geographic Information System software and geodatabase management applications. The headquarters of Esri is in Redlands, California....
's geodatabase format, stored as folders in a file system. - CoverageCoverage dataIn geographic information systems, a coverage is a mapping of one aspect of data in space. It represents a "domain" in terms of characteristics expressing a range of values. For example: a satellite image derived from remote sensing might record varying degrees of light pollution...
- ESRIESRIEsri is a software development and services company providing Geographic Information System software and geodatabase management applications. The headquarters of Esri is in Redlands, California....
's closed, hybrid vector data storage strategy. Legacy ArcGIS Workstation / ArcInfoArcInfoArcInfo is a full-featured geographic information system produced by Esri, and is the highest level of licensing in the ArcGIS Desktop product line. It was originally a command-line based system...
format with reduced support in ArcGIS Desktop lineup - Spatial Data FileSpatial data fileA spatial data file is a single-user geodatabase file format developed by Autodesk. The file format is the native spatial data storage format for Autodesk GIS programs MapGuide and AutoCAD Map 3D. The current format version is SDF3 , which is a single file...
- AutodeskAutodeskAutodesk, Inc. is an American multinational corporation that focuses on 3D design software for use in the architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, media and entertainment industries. The company was founded in 1982 by John Walker, a coauthor of the first versions of the company's...
's high-performance geodatabase format, native to MapGuide - GeoJSONGeoJSONGeoJSON is an open format for encoding a variety of geographic data structures.It is so named because it is based on JSON...
- a lightweight format based on JSONJSONJSON , or JavaScript Object Notation, is a lightweight text-based open standard designed for human-readable data interchange. It is derived from the JavaScript scripting language for representing simple data structures and associative arrays, called objects...
, used by many open source GIS packages