[GIS] Are ESRI Shapefiles and KML files two different ways of representing data

kmlshapefile

I have a really basic newbie question. I have following data with me:

  • Esri Shapefiles (.shp, .shx, .dbf, .prj, .sbn and .sbx)
  • KML/KMZ files

Are Esri Shapefiles and KML files two different ways of representing data? I am suspecting that the data provider has given me the same data in two formats: Shapefiles and KML files.

Is there a way I can verify that both of them are representing same data and that there is no loss of information when using one over the other?

Best Answer

If you do not have a GIS Package yet, QGis is an excellent and free Application that will let you load up all your files and overlay them on top of each other so you can see exactly what is in them.

KML and Shapfiles could contain the exact same data, however KML is much more suited to displaying time based track information, whereas shapefiles are more suited to displaying Geometries, like boundaries, areas, roads, etc.

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