KB10203 - I cannot open my shape files (converted from TIGER 2000 data) under the DK, even though the same shape files open just fine in another GIS software package that I am using. Is there something different about your shape files that I need to know? I will send you a sample shape file to check.

Your SHP files should open properly in the DK, as long as the data is in proper order. From the SHP file that you sent us, we can see that it does not open under TatukGIS DK because one of the record fields (which contains a vector attribute) contains a field name that is more than 10 characters in length. The DBF standard restricts record field names to a maximum of 10 characters, and the DK strictly adheres to the DBF specification. When your SHP file is opened under the DK, the end of this particular record field (the portion in excess of 10 characters) laps over to create an additional record field with an identical name. The existence of two record fields with exactly the same name is not allowed, and results in the error that prevents that your SHP file from opening under the DK. When we slightly changed one of the two identical record field names, your SHP file opened just fine under the DK.

This kind of error in SHP file data typically reflects that they have been converted into the SHP format from another format - this time TIGER - and the data was not cleanly converted. Many data converters sometimes create such errors. Your other GIS software may open the file despite the error in the data, but this does not mean that this error will not cause you a problem later on. It is best to clean up the data, to make it DBF complient, before proceeding, regardless of whether you proceed with the other GIS software package or with the DK.