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Creating a Shapefile Feature Layer
Creating a Shapefile Feature Layer

Using shapefiles to create feature layers in the Map

Mike Maat avatar
Written by Mike Maat
Updated over a week ago

A shapefile is a vector data format developed by Esri. It is a compressed (.zip) folder containing several files. Some of these files are mandatory and some are optional. A shapefile may also have one or many different "sub-layers". Each sub-layer in a shapefile requires the same files to be present. For the Nektar Map, the following files are mandatory in your shapefile uploads:

  • .shp

  • .dbf

  • .shx

  • .prj

In this shapefile, we can see we have all the required files, as well as some optional ones which will not harm the upload:

We can see that all the files have the same name; this is mandatory to make sure the files are all associated properly with the layer they are describing. If the shapefile has more layers, there would be additional sets of files following the same format:


Creating a Feature Layer by uploading a shapefile

NOTES:

  • Your shapefile must be in the projection EPSG:4326 / WGS 84

  • You will be able to upload the shapefile and map it as a feature layer, but an uploaded shapefile cannot be downloaded again later if you lose your copy.

You can create a shapefile feature layer in the Nektar Map by clicking the plus symbol in the "Feature Layers" section, and then clicking "New Layer":

A popup will be shown, clicking "Shapefile" will show this screen:

Upload your shapefile by clicking inside the dotted box, or by dragging your shapefile inside the dotted box. When your shapefile has been uploaded, each layer that is discovered inside the shapefile will generate an expandable area for customizing how you would like that layer to appear on the map:

Only the "Layer Title" is mandatory, the rest are optional. The Layer Title field will be auto-filled with the name of the layer from the shapefile. When you have satisfactorily customized the layer, clicking "Next", will upload all the layers from the shapefile, which will then appear in the Layers Tab:

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