Standard File Formats

Read, write, and get information about data files

Read, write, and get information about geospatial data files. Read data in formats such as Esri Binary Grid, Esri GridFloat, DTED, GeoTIFF, and GPX. Write data in GeoTIFF, world file, shapefile, and KML formats.

Functions

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Raster Data

Read

`readgeoraster`	Read geospatial raster data file
`worldfileread`	Read world file and return referencing object or matrix
`imread`	Read image from graphics file

Get Information

`georasterinfo`	Information about geospatial raster data file
`geotiffinfo`	Information about GeoTIFF file
`sdtsinfo`	Information about SDTS data set
`getworldfilename`	Derive world file name from image file name

Write

`geotiffwrite`	Write GeoTIFF file
`worldfilewrite`	Write world file from referencing object or matrix
`imwrite`	Write image to graphics file

Vector Data

Read

`gpxread`	Read GPX file
`shaperead`	Read vector features and attributes from shapefile

Get Information

shapeinfo Information about shapefile

Write

`kmlwrite`	Write geographic data to KML file
`kmlwriteline`	Write geographic line data to KML file
`kmlwritepoint`	Write geographic point data to KML file
`kmlwritepolygon`	Write geographic polygon to KML file
`makeattribspec`	Attribute specification from geographic data structure
`shapewrite`	Write geographic vector data structure to shapefile
`makedbfspec`	DBF specification from geographic data structure

Objects

`RasterInfo`	Information about geospatial raster data file
`RPCCoefficientTag`	Rational Polynomial Coefficients Tag

Topics

Export Vector Geodata

You can export geodata as a shapefile, which can be exchanged between different geographic information systems. You can also create KML files to upload geodata to the web.

Export KML Files for Viewing in Earth Browsers

Keyhole Markup Language (KML) specifies how a set of geographic features should be displayed in "Earth browsers".

Select Shapefile Data to Read

You can import a subset of elements in a shapefile by filtering elements according to attribute names and values.

Functions That Read and Write Files in Compressed Formats

Geospatial data are frequently stored and transmitted in compressed or archive formats that can be accessed using standard functions.