Shapefile
A legacy GIS file format (actually multiple files) often distributed as a .zip.
Category: Files & Data
Definition (expanded)
A Shapefile is a set of files (.shp, .shx, .dbf, and often .prj) that together store geometry and attributes. It's still widely used but has limitations (field naming, encoding, size). Shapefiles are commonly shared as a .zip and often converted to GeoJSON for web workflows.
Related tools
Related terms
GeoJSONA JSON format for geographic features, using objects like Feature, FeatureCollection, and geometry types like Polygon and MultiPolygon.Attributes (properties)Non-geometry data attached to a feature (e.g., name, id, crop type) stored in GeoJSON properties or Shapefile fields.CRS (Coordinate Reference System)A definition of how coordinates map to real locations on Earth, including projection, datum, and units.EPSG codeA standard numeric identifier for a coordinate reference system (e.g., 4326 for WGS84 lon/lat).