Inspect Shape files (.shp)¶

A Shapefile is a widely used vector data format for storing points, lines, or polygons together with attribute information. A shapefile only consists of a single vector layer. Although often referred to as a single file, a Shapefile actually consists of multiple files that must always be kept together.

All files share the same base name and together form one vector dataset. Removing or renaming individual files may make the dataset unusable.

Required components

.shp – stores the geometry data (coordinates)
.dbf – stores the attribute table (non-spatial information such as names or values)
.shx – index file linking geometries to attributes and enabling fast access

Optional but common components

.prj – stores coordinate reference system (CRS) information

1. Import required packages¶

GeoKit is imported to provide the required functionality for working with vector data.

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import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd

import geokit.core.vector
import geokit.core.geom
import pathlib
from geokit.core.get_test_data import get_test_data
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd

import geokit.core.vector
import geokit.core.geom
import pathlib
from geokit.core.get_test_data import get_test_data

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# Path to shapefile folder
gadm36_DEU_1_path = get_test_data(
    file_name="gadm36_DEU_1.shp",
)

# Load vector dataset from a Shapefile and reproject to EPSG:4326
federal_states_DE = geokit.core.vector.extractFeatures(gadm36_DEU_1_path)

# show dataset
federal_states_DE
# Path to shapefile folder
gadm36_DEU_1_path = get_test_data(
    file_name="gadm36_DEU_1.shp",
)

# Load vector dataset from a Shapefile and reproject to EPSG:4326
federal_states_DE = geokit.core.vector.extractFeatures(gadm36_DEU_1_path)

# show dataset
federal_states_DE

Out[2]:

	geom	GID_0	NAME_0	GID_1	NAME_1	VARNAME_1	NL_NAME_1	TYPE_1	ENGTYPE_1	CC_1	HASC_1
0	MULTIPOLYGON (((8.70802116 47.6895752,8.707655...	DEU	Germany	DEU.1_1	Baden-Württemberg	None	None	Land	State	08	DE.BW
1	POLYGON ((9.74066353 47.55353546,9.74057579 47...	DEU	Germany	DEU.2_1	Bayern	Bavaria	None	Freistaat	None	09	DE.BY
2	POLYGON ((13.17135715 52.3977623,13.17135334 5...	DEU	Germany	DEU.3_1	Berlin	None	None	Land	State	11	DE.BE
3	MULTIPOLYGON (((12.26715565 52.2313118,12.2704...	DEU	Germany	DEU.4_1	Brandenburg	None	None	Land	State	12	DE.BR
4	MULTIPOLYGON (((8.71142387 53.04463196,8.71033...	DEU	Germany	DEU.5_1	Bremen	None	None	Freie Hansestadt	State	04	DE.HB
5	MULTIPOLYGON (((10.21060085 53.52004623,10.211...	DEU	Germany	DEU.6_1	Hamburg	None	None	Freie und Hansestadt	State	02	DE.HH
6	MULTIPOLYGON (((8.68058777 49.62247086,8.68134...	DEU	Germany	DEU.7_1	Hessen	Hesse	None	Land	State	06	DE.HE
7	MULTIPOLYGON (((11.4958334 54.03180695,11.4958...	DEU	Germany	DEU.8_1	Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	Mecklenburg-West Pomerania	None	Land	State	13	DE.MV
8	MULTIPOLYGON (((6.76194477 53.61875153,6.76194...	DEU	Germany	DEU.9_1	Niedersachsen	Lower Saxony	None	Land	State	03	DE.NI
9	POLYGON ((8.05965614 50.69504166,8.0413866 50....	DEU	Germany	DEU.10_1	Nordrhein-Westfalen	North Rhine-Westphalia	None	Land	State	05	DE.NW
10	POLYGON ((6.6504283 49.54951096,6.65105438 49....	DEU	Germany	DEU.11_1	Rheinland-Pfalz	Rhineland-Palatinate	None	Land	State	07	DE.RP
11	POLYGON ((6.84392643 49.15551376,6.84085464 49...	DEU	Germany	DEU.12_1	Saarland	None	None	Land	State	10	DE.SL
12	POLYGON ((14.79049587 50.82408524,14.79012299 ...	DEU	Germany	DEU.14_1	Sachsen	Saxony	None	Freistaat	State	14	DE.SN
13	MULTIPOLYGON (((11.44027328 51.19976044,11.441...	DEU	Germany	DEU.13_1	Sachsen-Anhalt	Saxony-Anhalt	None	Land	State	15	DE.ST
14	MULTIPOLYGON (((9.53010368 53.67519379,9.53016...	DEU	Germany	DEU.15_1	Schleswig-Holstein	None	None	Land	State	01	DE.SH
15	POLYGON ((11.70222759 50.40244293,11.70159817 ...	DEU	Germany	DEU.16_1	Thüringen	Thuringia	None	Freistaat	State	16	DE.TH

Visualize the Geometries¶

Use the drawGeoms function of GeoKit to visualize all geometries stored in the geom column.

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ax_handles = geokit.core.geom.drawGeoms(federal_states_DE, figsize=(6, 6))
ax_handles = geokit.core.geom.drawGeoms(federal_states_DE, figsize=(6, 6))

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Inspect the shape file¶

To inspect some of the metadata about the shapefile, use the vectorInfo() function. For example, you can inspect the spatial reference system, the number of geometries, and the names of the attributes.

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vinfo = geokit.core.vector.vectorInfo(gadm36_DEU_1_path)

# show information about the vector dataset
print("COUNT", vinfo.count)

print("SRS", vinfo.srs)

print("ATTRIBUTES", vinfo.attributes)
vinfo = geokit.core.vector.vectorInfo(gadm36_DEU_1_path)

# show information about the vector dataset
print("COUNT", vinfo.count)

print("SRS", vinfo.srs)

print("ATTRIBUTES", vinfo.attributes)

COUNT 16
SRS GEOGCS["WGS 84",
    DATUM["WGS_1984",
        SPHEROID["WGS 84",6378137,298.257223563,
            AUTHORITY["EPSG","7030"]],
        AUTHORITY["EPSG","6326"]],
    PRIMEM["Greenwich",0,
        AUTHORITY["EPSG","8901"]],
    UNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433,
        AUTHORITY["EPSG","9122"]],
    AXIS["Latitude",NORTH],
    AXIS["Longitude",EAST],
    AUTHORITY["EPSG","4326"]]
ATTRIBUTES ['GID_0', 'NAME_0', 'GID_1', 'NAME_1', 'VARNAME_1', 'NL_NAME_1', 'TYPE_1', 'ENGTYPE_1', 'CC_1', 'HASC_1']