Tag Archives: shapefile

SQLite for ArcGIS Pro FTW

October 10, 2022 By in blogging, Computering, GIS, shapefile Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

I work in an Esri shop. My workflow includes periodic ingestion of MS Access and shapefile data. ArcGIS Pro doesn’t recognize Access. This has caused me to stick with ArcMap for one particular process. Esri’s suggested alternative to Access (“Use Excel”) has proven problematic for me to use with Pro for a variety of reasons.

Enter SQLite, which I wish I had tried sooner. Pro works with SQLite. Unlike Excel, SQLIte does not try to guess your fields’ data types (though it will if you ask). Access ⇒ CSV ⇒ SQLite ⇒ ArcGIS Pro is my new workflow. I haven’t opened ArcMap in a while.

Back in February 2019 I used Pro instead of Map for a full month, as a test. I went back to hybrid Map/Pro after that, until now. I may never open ArcMap again.

A Tale of Two NFTs

September 19, 2021 By in art, Computering, crypto, GIS, NFT, shapefile Tags: , , Leave a comment

“[…] it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness […]” –Charles Dickens, 1859

It was bound to happen, and so it did. After the release of the first shapefile NFT back in April, it was only a matter of time before a geopackage NFT also materialized. Its creator is Oliver Burdekin; the NFT is listed on Rarible for 1 ETH (same as the shapefile NFT).

Now it’s up to the discerning geogeek / digital art connoisseur to vote with their wallet. Which NFT will sell first? Exciting times!

My first NFT

April 21, 2021 By in art, crypto, GIS, NFT, shapefile Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

I minted my first NFT. To the best of my knowledge this is the first-ever shapefile NFT. 

My shapefile NFT

The project began as an inside GIS joke, then expanded to the world of crypto and ‘art’. This NFT builds on the success of the original “I ❤ .SHP” series of products. I manually digitized a vector polygon shapefile over the original raster “I ❤ .SHP” PNG graphic (thus creating a shapefile about the shapefile), then derived a second shapefile (point) from the nodes and vertices of the polygon shapefile. Both shapefiles are overlaid and displayed in the PNG graphic shown here.

The NFT includes the two source shapefiles plus the two PNG graphics, with their provenance and ownership verified on the Rarible blockchain (ERC-20). Buy it here and own a piece of history.

UPDATE: For those who would rather NOT own the original, we have stickers.

UPDATE 2: And shirts!

Look, Ma! I made a mobile geodatabase!

December 18, 2020 By in GIS Tags: , , , , 3 Comments

I did, indeed. Prompted by a tweet from the ever-vigilant Randy Hale, I fired up my just-updated ArcGIS Pro 2.7, created a new mobile geodatabase, and exported a feature class into it.

First impressions: It works. It’s nice. It is new in ArcGIS Pro 2.7, and only works in ArcGIS Pro 2.7. ArcMap 10.8.1 doesn’t see it. It has many advantages (compact, modern, high size and name limits) over other geodata formats such as shapefile and file geodatabase. It is very similar to the geopackage in that it uses the open-source SQLite database. It also looks like it’s Esri’s attempt to push users off ArcMap and onto Pro by recreating the personal geodatabase for the 2020s. 

If you are a member of a GIS team where everybody uses only ArcGIS Pro 2.7 (and whose data partners also only use ArcGIS Pro 2.7), the mobile geodatabase looks like an attractive proposition. In my own work experience however (1, 2), no GIS data-sharing partner has ever requested or delivered anything but the much-maligned shapefile. YMMV, and this will likely change going forward, but as of today this is my reality.

So where does that leave me? What should I do with the mobile geodatabase today? I will dive deeper and try to discover all the advantages (and eventual drawbacks) of the mobile geodatabase. I may eventually move my data out of file geodatabases and into mobile geodatabases (which will require an update to all my maps’ sources). And I will begin to offer mobile geodatabases to data-share partners. I think I know what they’ll say.

Shapefile, the vinyl of geo

October 8, 2017 By in Commentary, GIS, Social media Tags: , , , , , , , 2 Comments
Shapefile, the vinyl of geo

So I made this t-shirt to celebrate my love for the shapefile — the vinyl of geo. I was promptly labeled a luddite.

I am not a luddite. Far from it. I store all my data in PostgreSQL, and use PostGIS and QGIS like any self-respecting geohipster. I dabble in Python and JavaScript. I write SQL queries.

But I also live in the real world. I make maps and print them. I export them to PDF. I exchange data with other users and organizations — most of them casual GIS users. And these users (and their applications) only know and understand the shapefile.

Casual GIS users will continue to use the shapefile because it is simple, convenient, and universally supported. It just works. To call for the abolition of the shapefile is akin to calling for the abolition of the .xls(x) format on the grounds that people erroneously use it in lieu of “legitimate” databases. Millions of people.

Let’s be real and call off the shapefile vendetta. There is room (and need) in the geoverse for both PostGIS and shapefile. Why not just buy yourself a “Postgres is my databae” or “I ❤ .SHP” t-shirt to show where you stand? You’ll look hip, whichever you choose.

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