Guidelines for shapefile

A shapefile is a simple, nontopological format for storing the geometric location and attribute information of geographic features of the specific location. It helps to enhance the geo-location-based functionalities across the MCS platform within a council’s boundary. 

Shapefile information must include:

• .shp — Main file (mandatory); a direct access, variable-record-length file in which each record describes a shape (attributes) with a list of its vertices.
• .shx — Index file (mandatory). In the index file, each record contains the offset of the corresponding main file record from the beginning of the main file. The index file (.shx) contains a 100-byte header followed by 8-byte, fixed-length records.
• .dbf — dBASE Table file (mandatory); a constrained form of DBF that contains feature attributes with one record per feature. The one-to-one relationship between geometry and attributes is based on record number. Attribute records in the dBASE file must be in the same order as records in the main file.
• .prj — Projections Definition file (Optional); stores coordinate system information.

Standard projection of EPSG:27700 – OSGB 1936 /British National Grid is recommended.  Or we can receive EPSG: 3857 WGS84.

Shape Files should also be provided in 2D, so only X & Y coordinates.

It is recommended to merge all the shapefiles (in case of multiple) into one single file with appropriate attribute data and sent in ZIP format.  Each polygon will be displayed in the system according the to ‘Name’ column attribute provided.

If any merging for multiple polygons is provided, correct attribute information should be provided if merging is required. This will mean additional efforts for development team.

Shapefiles take typically take 2-3 days to load.  Files are always loaded into a demo environment and require testing and sign off before deployment into a Production system.  Please allow 2-3 days for deployment into Production for resource allocation within our development team