Missing files when exporting shapefiles

[Anonymous]

I have tried to export shape files using the Map --> Tools --> Export function and I am setting up everything that I need to complete the import but I can't seem to get all the files I need. Our GIS expert says that he needs 7 files; the .shp .shx .cpg .dbf .idx .sbn and .sbx. The problem I have is that IM not getting the .sbn or the .sbx files when I go through the export process. Can someone help me figure out what I'm doing wrong? Or even if those 2 files I'm not getting are necessary to be able to import the shape files into GIS.

Thanks

[Murph_Map]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

I have tried to export shape files using the Map --> Tools --> Export function and I am setting up everything that I need to complete the import but I can't seem to get all the files I need. Our GIS expert says that he needs 7 files; the .shp .shx .cpg .dbf .idx .sbn and .sbx. The problem I have is that IM not getting the .sbn or the .sbx files when I go through the export process. Can someone help me figure out what I'm doing wrong? Or even if those 2 files I'm not getting are necessary to be able to import the shape files into GIS.

Thanks

---

Your GIS Expert is not much of an expert if he/she thinks they need all those files.

All you need for shape format data is shp,shx,& dbf. You can also get the prj file if you have an assigned coordinate system to the map when you export it.

[pd.jayakumar]

Hi,

          I dont think the .sbn and sbx files are needed, if you want it just open the shape file once in arc gis and start the edit and stop the edit, you will get it.  

         When you export hte layer from cad to shp file, if it is a polygone it should be closed and export setting has to be set according to the layer you have.   Even though you are fining difficulties send the dwg file I will try.( 2000 format)

[antoniovinci]

> I dont think the .sbn and sbx files are needed

---

As said by Mr.Murph, the ONLY files needed to have a shapeset are .SHP, .SHX, .DBF, period.
By means of the opensource Mapwindow, for instance, you may additionally add a .PRJ to give geo-reference (sorry for my bad english).

[Anonymous]

lets be clear. Just because a file extension is not mandatory to display a shapefile, not having a particular file extension can cause issues. If you don't know the projection, obviously that is an issue.

I'm not even going into projection/datum issues of the not so standard standard of EPSG numbers and how spherical mercator meter can have two valid EPSG's.

Code pages are necessary even though not mandatory (even though virtually no one seems to know much about them). The LDID is the dBase language driver ID that assigns character encoding to a shapefile. The LDID usually has priority over the .cpg in most GIS tools. The .cpg or code page assigns the ansi or unicode codepage for the data if there is no LDID reference. Without this, your japanese characters stored in the .dbf of theshapefile data will be pretty useless... Although most people only use straight ASCII and this will never apply to them.

Then factor readers and writers with datasets with UTF16 verses UTF32 to compound the issue...

I would say: .shp, .dbf, .shx, .prj, .are the big four, but add .cpg for anyone who uses international data.

.sbn and .sbx are not necessary:

Arcview creates a spatial index if you run a spatial join or select by theme. User can create an index choosing "create index" for shape field. Spatial index is composed of 2 files:
The .sbn (spatial bin) file divides the area of .shp file in rectangular areas (bins).
Each bin contains the numbers record of the features in the .shp file that fall in its area. When user run a spatial query only features that intersect the bins are considered (faster searchr).
The .sbx (spatial bin index) file contains rows
Each rows in the .sbx file contains the record number and the length in bytes of the corresponding bin record in the .sbn file. It's a lenght-fixed (function by lookup table)

Mandatory files :

• .shp — shape format; the feature geometry itself
• .shx — shape index format; a positional index of the feature geometry to allow seeking forwards and backwards quickly
• .dbf — attribute format; columnar attributes for each shape, in dBase IV format

Optional files :

• .prj — projection format; the coordinate system and projection information, a plain text file describing the projection using well-known text format
• .sbn and .sbx — a spatial index of the features
• .fbn and .fbx — a spatial index of the features for shapefiles that are read-only
• .ain and .aih — an attribute index of the active fields in a table
• .ixs — a geocoding index for read-write shapefiles
• .mxs — a geocoding index for read-write shapefiles (ODB format)
• .atx — an attribute index for the .dbf file in the form of shapefile.columnname.atx (ArcGIS 8 and later)
• .shp.xml — geospatial metadata in XML format, such as ISO 19115 or other XML schema
• .cpg — used to specify the code page (only for .dbf) for identifying the character encoding to be used

The real question I have is, "Does autocad and ADT support LDID and .cpg upon export of shapefiles?". Kudos to anyone who answers my question before I do.

[antoniovinci]

---

averagenondescriptmorotist wrote:
.shx — shape index format; a positional index of the feature geometry to allow seeking forwards and backwards quickly

---

I concur with all you wrote, sir, but the above one: the .SHX simply links every feature of the .SHP file with its record in the .DBF table, no matter about speed.

[Anonymous]

Correct, apologies. It is not possible to parse shaperecords without an .shx. The shx links to the shape record. There is no link from .shx to .dbf, this is inferred as roughly size * record num. After searching through on numerous sites, it looks like auto cad map 3d can import the .cpg with the map tool, though I'm not finding any mention of being able to export a .cpg or LDID. Also no reference if the LDID can be imported from a shapefile. Any help with this is much appreciated 🙂

[Anonymous]

hopefully if it is not supported, any LDID entry is replaced with zero (as is customary) and if codepages are missing, then I can assume any characters exported will reference 0 - 65535 for the low end of UTF-8 matching windows 1252. This I can live with.

[krawczyk.malgorzata]

Hello,

I was trying to export my layer, and I zip it, but when I want ot upload, I get reply, that the shape file is missing. Do you know any reason why it is so?

As it is obligatory, would you be so kind and help me with fixing it?

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> I was trying to export my layer, and I zip it

If you used "Export Layer" you have just got a file with the extension .LAYER which has the info about stylization, symbols and the path-/connection info to the dataset ... but the data is not stored in that file.

If your ZIP does contain more than just the .LAYER-file then please let us know what files are included.

- alfred -

[krawczyk.malgorzata]

Thank you Alfred,

My recent zip. file contains gdbindexes, gdbtable, gdbtablx, spx,freelist,

I had before one containing tax, frilliest, gdbtablx and spx.

To be honest, I am rather confused. Would appreciate you tips very much.


Thank you,

Gosia

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> My recent zip. file contains gdbindexes, gdbtable, gdbtablx, spx,freelist,

AutoCAD Map3D can't export GDB data type, so which product are you referring to when you write "export my layer"?

- alfred -