Shapefiles

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I am trying to download Census data from here and I've never worked with shapefiles. Does anyone have any experience with this kind of data format?

[Sgt. Crackpot]

Welcome to Red Mosquito Technical Support. All of our help desk operators are currently attending to enquiries from other customers. Your call is important to us, and has been placed in a queue.

You are 47th in the queue.

[Sgt. Crackpot]

What is a Shapefile?

The shapefile format (promulgated by ESRI) stores non-topological geometry and attribute information for the spatial features in a data set. Shapefiles are used extensively in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and they typically contain data related to coastlines, political boundaries, state or county boundaries, climate zones, roads, rivers, topography, etc. The geometry of each spatial feature or 'shape' is stored as a set of vector coordinates. Shapes can be points, lines, or polygons (areas). An ESRI shapefile actually consists of several files: a main file (*.shp), an index file (*.shx), a dBASE file (*.dbf), and an optional projection file (*.prj). The main file describes a set of shapes with a list of their vertices. The index file contains offsets pointing to the locations of each shape in the main file. The dBASE file contains attribute data for each shape in the main file. The projection file contains specifics about the spherical geometry; it is an optional but useful component of a shapefile.

How do you view a shapefile?

You'll need to use a shepefile viewer. There's a few suggestions here: http://www.gislounge.com/shapefile-viewers/, and also a free one here: http://www.qarah.com/shapeviewer/.

Good luck, and make sure you're running a decent anti-virus when downloading any of these free programs.

Thank you for contacting Red Mosquito Technical Support. Have a nice day.

[malice]

10/10 for the soundcloud file

[Alex]

you working for the gubbment again, kt?

[---]

now this is a sgt crackpot i can get behind

[---]

you working for the gubbment again, kt?

my sector is so private that the nah account slipped it a mickey

[Alex]

you working for the gubbment again, kt?

my sector is so private that the nah account slipped it a mickey

how low is your bureaucracy quotient?

[---]

you working for the gubbment again, kt?

my sector is so private that the nah account slipped it a mickey

how low is your bureaucracy quotient?

so low bro, so low

[Alex]

you working for the gubbment again, kt?

my sector is so private that the nah account slipped it a mickey

how low is your bureaucracy quotient?

so low bro, so low

it helps the defined contribution retirement plan go down easier

[---]

you working for the gubbment again, kt?

my sector is so private that the nah account slipped it a mickey

how low is your bureaucracy quotient?

so low bro, so low

it helps the defined contribution retirement plan go down easier

how red is your tape?

[Alex]

you working for the gubbment again, kt?

my sector is so private that the nah account slipped it a mickey

how low is your bureaucracy quotient?

so low bro, so low

it helps the defined contribution retirement plan go down easier

how red is your tape?

the question is not how red is my tape but how black is my ledger

[---]

you working for the gubbment again, kt?

my sector is so private that the nah account slipped it a mickey

how low is your bureaucracy quotient?

so low bro, so low

it helps the defined contribution retirement plan go down easier

how red is your tape?

the question is not how red is my tape but how black is my ledger

betwixt bespoke and begotten lie the lairs of legerdemain