File Formats in Cartographica
GIS Data comes from many places and in many forms. At ClueTrust, we're dedicated to making sure that you can get the data you need into your maps and analysis. For this, we've enlisted the assistance of the GDAL/OGR libraries from the Open Source Geospatial Foundation. In some cases, we have also implemented our own import and export capabilities to more closely match features in Cartographica with the features in the particular file formats.
Besides providing support for many native formats, Cartographica will also attempt to decompress formats ending in .gz prior to importing.
The tables below describe, for both the Vector and Raster formats, which formats are supported, whether they are available for import or export, what the expected file extensions are, and whether support is via GDAL or internal code.
Vector File Formats Supported
| Name | Primary Extensions | Import | Export | GDAL | Automated Testing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ESRI Shapefile | shp | Y | Y | Successful | |
| GPX | gpx | Y | Successful | ||
| ESRI Arc/Info Binary Coverage | e00 | Y | Y | Successful | |
| ESRI Arc/Info Binary Coverage (ADF) | adf | Y | Y | Successful | |
| GML | gml | Y | Y | Y | Successful |
| KML | kml | Y | Y | Successful | |
| Tiger | rt1 | Y | Y | Successful | |
| MapInfo TAB | tab | Y | Y | Y | Successful |
| MapInfo MIF | mif | Y | Y | Y | Successful |
| UK NTF | ntf | Y | Y | Successful | |
| IHO S-57 | 000 | Y | Y | Successful | |
| Vector SDTS | ddf | Y | Y | Successful | |
| Atlas BNA | bna | Y | Y | Y | Successful |
| OGR VRT | vrt | Y | Y | Successful | |
| GMT | gmt | Y | Y | Successful | |
| DGN | dgn | Y | Y | Successful | |
| Personal GeoDatabase | mdb | Y | Y | Need Test Files | |
| EPIInfo Format | rec | Y | Y | Need Test Files | |
| GéoConcept | gxt, txt | Y | Y | Need Test Files | |
| XPlane | dat, txt | Y | Y | Successful | |
| Adobe Illustrator | Y | Need Test Files |
Raster File Formats Supported
| Name | Primary Extensions | Import | Export | GDAL | Automated Testing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MrSID | sid | Y | Y | Successful | |
| TIFF | tif, tiff | Y | Y | Successful | |
| JPEG 2000 (ERMapper) | jp2 | Y | Y | Successful | |
| ERMapper Compresed Wavelets | ecw | Y | Y | Successful | |
| Arc/Info ASCII Grid | asc, txt | Y | Y | Successful | |
| ARC Digitized Raster Graphics | gen | Y | Y | Need Test Files | |
| ARC/Info Binary Grid | adf | Y | Y | Successful | |
| AirSAR | dat | Y | Y | Need Test Files | |
| Magellan BLX | blx | Y | Y | Need Test Files | |
| MS Windows Device Independent Bitmap | bmp | Y | Y | Successful | |
| MapTech BSB | kap | Y | Y | Successful | |
| VTP BT | bt | Y | Y | Successful | |
| CEOS Image | img | Y | Y | Successful | |
| DRDC COASP SAR Processor | hdr | Y | Y | Need Test Files | |
| DIMAP | dim | Y | Y | Successful | |
| TerraSAR-X Complex SAR | xml | Y | Y | Successful | |
| Convair PolGASP Data | img | Y | Y | Need Test Files | |
| DIPEx | Y | Y | Need Test Files | ||
| DOQ (Unlabeled) | nes | Y | Y | Need Test Files | |
| DOQ | nes | Y | Y | Need Test Files | |
| Military Eelevation Data | dt0, dt1, dt2, dhm | Y | Y | Successful | |
| ESRI HDR Labeled | bil | Y | Y | Successful | |
| Erdas Image Raw | img | Y | Y | Successful | |
| NASA ELAS | Y | Y | Need Test Files | ||
| ENVI HDR Labeled | hdr | Y | Y | Need Test Files | |
| ERMapper Uncompressed Raster | ers | Y | Y | Need Test Files | |
| Envisat Image Product | n1 | Y | Y | Successful | |
| EOSAT FAST Format | fst | Y | Y | Successful | |
| FIT | fit | Y | Y | Successful | |
| FITS | fits | Y | Y | Successful | |
| FujiBAS Scanner Image | bas | Y | Y | Need Test Files | |
| Generic Binary | hdr | Y | Y | Need Test Files | |
| GSat File Format | gff | Y | Y | Need Test Files | |
| GIF | gif | Y | Y | Successful | |
| WMO GRIB | grb | Y | Y | Successful | |
| Golden Software ASCII Grid | grd | Y | Y | Need Test Files | |
| Golden Software Binary Grid | grd | Y | Y | Need Test Files | |
| Golden Software Surfer 7 Binary Grid | grd | Y | Y | Need Test Files | |
| GSC Geogrid | grd | Y | Y | Need Test Files | |
| Grid eXchange File | gxf | Y | Y | Successful | |
| Erdas Imagine | img | Y | Y | Successful | |
| Image Display and Analysis (WinDisp) | ida | Y | Y | Successful | |
| ILWIS Raster Map | mpr, mpl | Y | Y | Successful | |
| InterGraph Raster | cot, ctc, rgb, ctb, grd, crl, tpe, lsr, rle, cit, g3, g4, tg4, cmp | Y | Y | Successful | |
| USGS ISIS2 | cub | Y | Y | Successful | |
| USGS ISIS3 | cub | Y | Y | Need Test Files | |
| JAXA PALSAR | 5_ud, 5_ua | Y | Y | Successful | |
| JDEM | mem | Y | Y | Need Test Files | |
| JPEG | jpg, jpeg, jfif, jif | Y | Y | Successful | |
| NOAA Polar Orbiter Level 1B | mem | Y | Y | Successful | |
| Erdas LAN and GIS | lan, gis | Y | Y | Successful | |
| FARSITE v4 LCP | lcp | Y | Y | Successful | |
| Daylon Leveller Heightfield | ter | Y | Y | Need Test Files | |
| Vexcel MFF | hdr | Y | Y | Need Test Files | |
| Vexcel MFF2 | Y | Y | Need Test Files | ||
| NLAPS | ndf | Y | Y | Need Test Files | |
| NITF | ntf, nsf | Y | Y | Successful | |
| PCI aux Labeled | aux | Y | Y | Successful | |
| PCI Geomatics Database File | pix | Y | Y | Successful | |
| PCRaster | csf | Y | Y | Need Test Files | |
| NASA Planetary Data System | lbl, img | Y | Y | Successful | |
| Portable Network Graphics | png | Y | Y | Successful | |
| NetPBM | pbm, ppm | Y | Y | Need Test Files | |
| Swedish Grid RIK | rik | Y | Y | Need Test Files | |
| Raster Matrix Format | rsw, mtw | Y | Y | Successful | |
| Raster Product Format | toc | Y | Y | Need Test Files | |
| RadarSat2 XML | xml | Y | Y | Successful | |
| Idrisi Raster | rst, rdc | Y | Y | Need Test Files | |
| SAR CEOS | Y | Y | Need Test Files | ||
| USGS SDTS DEM | ddf | Y | Y | Successful | |
| SGI Raster Format | rgb, sgi | Y | Y | Need Test Files | |
| SRTM HGT Format | hgt | Y | Y | Successful | |
| Terragen Heightfield | ter | Y | Y | Successful | |
| TerraSAR-X Product | xml | Y | Y | Successful | |
| USGS ASCII DEM | dem | Y | Y | Successful | |
| X11 Pixmap | xpm | Y | Y | Successful | |
| GDAL VRT | vrt | Y | Y | Need Test Files |
ClueTrust actively and rigorously tests each of our supported file formats in each of the asserted capabilities above. Even though this is the case, we cannot guarantee that every file format will be handled correctly in every file (owing to differences of opinion of what "correctly" is and variations in file versions and vagueries in some formats). What we can guarantee is that we're interested in making Cartographica the most astute import and export package on the market and so we want to hear about it when something isn't working to your satisfaction.
To this end, we are seeking files of various types for testing. If you have a problem importing data or exporting data, or if you have access to one of the file types that we don't currently have test files for and would be willing to provide one or more test files, it would be greatly appreciated. Please contact us via the Bug Report page and we'll coordinate pick-up of any files that are larger than are allowed.
