Services and ArcGIS Server services-while others are file-basedĭata sources (such as CSV and XLS files) or open standards data The data used in layers comes from a variety of Using feature layers, you can query and edit features in client applications and manage access to the actual data. For example, publishing data in a comma-separated values (CSV) file creates a feature layer. Different types of layers have different capabilities. The fundamental types of data that can be displayed in a map are features and imagery. Additional examples of layers include earthquake epicenters, historical traffic patterns, terrain, 3D buildings, and parcels. For example, a building layer could represent a collection of campus buildings and include attributes that describe each building's properties, such as the name of the building, what type of building it is, the size of the building, and other potential attributes. Layers, also called web layers, are logical collections of geographic data that are used to create maps and scenes they are also the basis for geographic analysis. To convert them into your geodatabase, right click the shapefile, click “Export,” and select “To Geodatabase (single).In ArcGIS Online, you work with geographic data through layers. Many files downloaded from the internet are shapefiles.Long-term projects should be organized into a File Geodatabase and Feature Datasets. Use a shapefile when you want to read the attribute table or when you have a one or two tools/processes you need to do.There is more storage capacity, multiple users can view/read the database at the same time, and the file geodatabase runs tools and queries faster than a Personal Geodatabase. When using a geodatabase, use a File Geodatabase.
If you use Windows Explorer and do not select all the files for a shapefile, the shapefile will be corrupt and will not load. When you copy shapefiles anytime, use ArcCatalog.When you do, the Durham_County geodatabase shown above will look like this: You will not be able to access any files of a File geodatabase in Windows Explorer. In order to create advanced datasets (such as add a network dataset, a geometric network, a terrain dataset, a parcel fabric, or run topology on an existing layer) in ArcGIS, you will need to create a Feature Dataset. Like shapefiles, users can create points, lines, and polygons with feature classes feature classes also have the ability to create annotation, and dimension features. Feature datasets store Feature Classes (which are the equivalent to shapefiles) with the same coordinate system. To organize your data into themes you can create Feature Datasets within a geodatabase. Therefore Personal Geodatabases can be opened directly in Microsoft Access, but the entire geodatabase can only have 2 GB of storage. On the other hand, Personal Geodatabases were originally designed to be used in conjunction with Microsoft Access and the Geodatabase is stored as an Access file (.mdb). The geodatabase can be compressed which helps reduce the geodatabases’ size on the disk.Many users can view data inside the File Geodatabase while the geodatabase is being edited by another user.Better performance capabilities than Personal Geodatabase.File geodatabases have many benefits including: There are two types of single user geodatabases: File Geodatabase and Personal Geodatabase. Geodatabases allow users to thematically organize their data and store spatial databases, tables, and raster datasets. When a shapefile is opened in Windows Explorer it will look different than when opened in ArcCatalog. dbf – this file stores the attribute information for the featureĪll files for the shapefile must be stored in the same location with the same name or else the shapefile will not load. shx – this file stores the index of the geometry shp – this file stores the geometry of the feature One shapefile must have at least 3 files but most shapefiles have around 6 files. Users are allowed to create points, lines, and polygons with a shapefile. Do not store NULL values in a field when a value is NULL, a shapefile will use 0 instead.Cannot store date and time in the same field.Do not support names in fields longer than 10 characters.Takes up more storage space on your computer than a geodatabase.Therefore, shapefiles have many limitations such as: Shapefiles are simple storage formats that have been used in ArcMap since the 1990s when Esri created ArcView (the early version of ArcMap 10.3). Ever wonder what the difference between a shapefile and a geodatabase is in GIS and why each storage format is used for different purposes? It is important to decide which format to use before beginning your project so you do not have to convert many files midway through your project.