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Comparison of Vector Formats (GIS)

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The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of vector GIS file formats. Please see the individual products' articles for further information. Unless otherwise specified in footnotes, comparisons are based on the stable versions without any add-ons, extensions or external programs.

Feature Types

  • AutoCAD DXF - contour elevation plots in AutoCAD DXF format (by Autodesk)
  • Cartesian coordinate system (XYZ) - simple point cloud
  • Coverage - closed, hybrid vector data storage strategy. Legacy ArcGIS Workstation / ArcInfo format with reduced support in ArcGIS Desktop lineup. (by ESRI)
  • File Geodatabase - geodatabase format, stored as folders in a file system (by ESRI)
  • Geography Markup Language (GML) - XML based open standard for GIS data exchange (by Open Geospatial Consortium)
  • Simple Features - specification for vector data storage (by Open Geospatial Consortium) that can be used in a GML container
  • GeoJSON - open, lightweight format based on JSON, used by many open source GIS packages
  • GeoMedia - Microsoft Access based format for spatial vector storage (by Intergraph)
  • ISFC - MicroStation based CAD solution attaching vector elements to a relational Microsoft Access database (by Intergraph)
  • MapInfo TAB format - format using TAB, DAT, ID and MAP files (by MapInfo Corporation)
  • National Transfer Format (NTF) - National Transfer Format (mostly used by the UK Ordnance Survey)
  • Personal Geodatabase - closed, integrated vector data storage strategy using Microsoft's Access MDB format (by ESRI)
  • Shapefile - open, hybrid vector data format using SHP, SHX and DBF files (by ESRI)
  • Spatial Data File - high-performance geodatabase format, native to MapGuide (by Autodesk)
  • TIGER - Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing
  • Vector Product Format - National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)'s format of vectored data for large geographic databases

    • References

    Comparison of Vector Formats (GIS) Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA