js-shapefile-to-geojson/readme.md

This project allows a user to load Shapefiles and DBFs into the browser with JavaScript.
Outputs as [GeoJSON](http://geojson.org/) for use with other Mapping APIs such as [OpenLayers](http://openlayers.org).

Inspired by the excellent work by Tom Carden ([http://github.com/RandomEtc/shapefile-js/](http://github.com/RandomEtc/shapefile-js/)).

### Overview

I just got this out there so nothing is minified.  See index.html for an example of order.  All files need to be in the same directory.  This will use Web Workers if the browser support exists.  Not recommended for large files, more of an experiment than anything.

### Usage

You can use it to parse shapefiles (.shp) or dBase files (.dbf) or both.  Here are some examples.

Load Shapefile Only

    var shapefile = new Shapefile("myshapefile.shp",function(data){
        // data returned
    };

Load DBF Only

    var dbf = new DBF("mydbf.dbf",function(data){
        // data returned
    };

Load Shapefile w/ DBF Attributes

    var shapefile = new Shapefile({
        shp: "myshape.dbf",
        dbf: "myshape.dbf"
    }, function(data){
        // data returned
    };

Use with OpenLayers

    var
        parser = new OpenLayer.Format.GeoJSON(),
        features,
        shapefile = new Shapefile({
            shp: "myshape.dbf",
            dbf: "myshape.dbf"
        }, function(data){
            features = parser.read(data.geojson);
        };

### Resources

I used the technical descriptions found here to parse the binary:

> [ESRI Shapefile Technical Description - PDF](http://www.esri.com/library/whitepapers/pdfs/shapefile.pdf)

> [dBase (Xbase) File Format Description](http://www.dbf2002.com/dbf-file-format.html)

### Future

I plan to implement (time permitting) some custom renderers like SVG or Canvas (besides using OpenLayers) to improve the speed.

Feel free to hack at this, submit bugs, pull requests, and make it better.  If you write a renderer, please push it back and I'll add it to the project.

### License

(The MIT License)

Copyright (c) 2010 Marc Harter <wavded@gmail.com>

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
'Software'), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED 'AS IS', WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.
IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY
CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE
SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.