Comments on: Another Way To Convert Google Earth KML Files To Shapefiles

By: Mohamed

Mohamed — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:58:14 +0000

Hey, this is great. I got what I wanted at the end, who cares about an extra step! Good Work. And Thank you

By: mike

mike — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 06:06:26 +0000

Thanks for the reply

By: Leszek Pawlowicz

Leszek Pawlowicz — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:07:48 +0000

You’ll have to talk to the program’s author about the specifics. But AFAIK, the only data that gets mapped over from KML to the shapefile is the name of the KML shape, and the geographic information (point, line or polygon).

By: mark

mark — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 07:28:47 +0000

Thanks for the reply.I have used that tool. But i want to know what happens behind the tool’s process.Just a brief info on what are the things mapped from KML into Shape parameters.

By: Leszek Pawlowicz

Leszek Pawlowicz — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 16:07:19 +0000

For a generic converter that doesn’t need a GIS program for the final step, check this post:

http://freegeographytools.com/2007/the-last-word-for-now-on-converting-google-earth-kml-files-to-shapefiles

The only data that gets put into the shapefile’s DBF data table is the name; none of the other data gets saved. All of the additional pieces of data are saved under the same KML tag, so there’s no way to differentiate them.

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 12:04:12 +0000

Hi i need a generic converter which doesn’t need any gis or some software. I just need some info of how and what data is stored in shape file and what are the data from KML fill’s those data in shape?

By: Leszek Pawlowicz

Leszek Pawlowicz — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 23:22:26 +0000

Yes, but you need to have a copy of ArcGIS to use these, and that doesn’t quite fall in the category of “free” ;-).

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 22:28:14 +0000

There are two extensions for that convertion, but for the best follow this link:

http://arcscripts.esri.com/details.asp?dbid=14988

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 22:22:48 +0000

There is a good converter from KML to SHAPEFILE on the ESRI ArcScripts site, just named KML 2 SHP.

By: Leszek Pawlowicz

Leszek Pawlowicz — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 04:22:54 +0000

Thanks for the tip. You could also use FME or Global Mapper to convert the KML files directly to shapefiles, without an intermediate conversion to DXF, but as with ArcMap, you’d have to buy a copy of the program. It’s not really a “free geotool” if you need a $1500 program to make it work ;-).