shp
What is a .shp file?
application/vnd.shp
The .shp file is the geometry component of an Esri shapefile. It stores a fixed 100-byte header followed by variable-length records, each holding one point, polyline, polygon, or multipoint feature as raw little-endian doubles. It is never usable alone: a shapefile is a set of sidecar files, minimally .shp with a .shx index and a .dbf attribute table, and usually a .prj holding the coordinate reference system.
How to use a .shp file
Use an example .shp file, together with its sidecars, to test GIS readers and converters, checking ring orientation for polygons with holes, the bounding box in the header, and that record counts agree with the .shx index and .dbf table.
Download example .shp files
- Shapefile: Towns Geometry (.shp, 5 Point records)The geometry half of a point shapefile: a 100-byte header carrying the shape type and bounding box, then five 20-byte Point records. The file is useless on its own: attributes live in the .dbf and the coordinate system in the .prj, which is the point of shipping the whole component set.
- Shapefile: Roads Geometry (.shp, 3 PolyLine records)Three single-part PolyLine records, each carrying its own bounding box, a part index and a run of little-endian coordinate doubles. PolyLine and Polygon share this layout, which is why the shape-type byte in the header is the only thing that distinguishes an open line from a closed ring.
- Shapefile: Parcels Geometry (.shp, Polygon with a hole)Three Polygon records, one of which has two rings: the Mill Court parcel and its courtyard. Shapefile winds rings the opposite way to GeoJSON (exterior clockwise, holes anticlockwise), and it has no explicit hole marker, so winding is the only signal a reader has.
- Convert v2 Shapefile SHP CompanionReal SHP component from the five-town Kestrel Bay shapefile set, copied byte-for-byte into the Convert v2 reserve. Stable P8 artifact p8-convert-shapefile-shp.