Hi there, As far as I know you just have to live with those issues.
If you are lucky the data provider will have created a seperate *.PRJ file that sits alongside the SHP and contains projection info. This is one that MapInfo can work with and also the Universal Translator writes out when creating a shapefile from MapInfo. Thats the first bit - and a crucial one to be sure - how many hours have I wasted trying to sleauth out the coordinates from a shapefile ([EMAIL PROTECTED]@#$). Usually I preview it in ArcView or ArcExplorer and have enough sense to guess from a sample coordinate pair. Alternately you fish through a seperate metadata file to find the projection and coordinate info. Or you harass the data provider until they give it up. With regards to the styling, yes thats a bummer too. There is a nifty additional optional file in ArcView 3.x called a *.AVL - a legend file - that defines a style setting or thematically driven setting that loads when you open the SHP file. In the newfangled Arc8 there is something called a Layer file - sort of the same idea - an umbrella with settings to sit over the data in the SHP. Neither of these can be used by non-ESRI tools as far as I know, but if you could read them and apply their contents in MapInfo that could be a fix to this annoying non-feature of the direct SHP. As an aside, SHPs are also approx 50% fatter than TAB (.MAP) with large complex spatial layers like topographic contours. I am very interested in more insight on this topic as well - particularly with regards to Open GIS data formats and standards - the geodata.gov site is very interesting and some of you know a lot more about the Geospatial One Stop initiative and also web-based OGC compliant services than I do...I sit on a state GIS board here in Maine where we are planning to implement a new state GeoLibrary - and data distribution, standards, and formats are all on the table. You find SHP files everywhere for downloadable data, and often those ArcExport files too which have a whole host of their own peculiarities. At least the SHP files are published and not propietary - I fear the day when the download will be a Arc...only or other proprietary format - but open formats can still win. Wish I knew more... Will Mitchell Mitchell Geographics, Inc. 496 Congress Street Portland, ME 04101 www.mitchellgeo.com ph 207.879.7769 fx 207.253.5756 -----Original Message----- From: Neil Havermale [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, July 28, 2003 11:27 PM To: 'Bill Thoen'; 'MapInfo-L' Subject: MI-L I want a new format..... Or insight I was considering some of the issues as regards access to increasingly free spatial data like www.geodata.gov and a host of others like it. It seems so simple. The one issue that bothers me most in the lure of free data (and/or conversation with ArcGIS projects), is the de-facto condition/standard that all of this available data is constructed in .SHP format. With MapInfo Pro 7.0 and MapX conceptually all you do is point at the .SHP file and it loads - well sort of. Something is missing. It seems that the "public" form of SHP that we increasingly must deal with is deficient in all sorts of ways - no internal info on projection nor datum, all geographical attributes default to black lines, black dots, and white interiors. Is this buy design? Given that we MapInfo'ers must correspond in an increasingly ESRI-centric data environment, I was wondering if some of you with dual MapInfo and ESRI citizenship, might clue me/us in on how to better deal with .SHP data? To make advantage on .SHP data, do we simple accept that it's generally free character is just good enough to overcome the frustration of the absence of necessary metadata? Is a retarded .SHP format just the millstone we, as MapInfo users, must carry? In my case, all of the additional "detail" needed to reliably depend on SHP importation (the necessary projection info is never readily available) creates enough FUD (Hmmm, things are not lining up as expected - I guess my GPS data must be wrong?) that I wonder if I too should just jump the fence as well? The grass may not be greener? I understand there are some other issues with .SHP that are not generally well understood like the difference between a 2D and 3D .SHPs as well as some detailing in the use of the DBF for attributes? Are there other .SHP issues we need to smarten up on? Should MapInfo add an Appendix to 7.5 and beyond to explain how to adjust a .SHP definition of our Nation and World? MidNight Mapper Aka neil --------------------------------------------------------------------- List hosting provided by Directions Magazine | www.directionsmag.com | To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Message number: 7808 --------------------------------------------------------------------- List hosting provided by Directions Magazine | www.directionsmag.com | To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Message number: 7814
