[GIS] KML to Shapefile using GDAL (LIBKML) – MultiGeometry data not transforming

gdalgeometrykmlogrshapefile

I am trying to convert a KML file to Shapefile using GDAL (ogr2ogr).
Regular KML files convert fine but KML files containing MultiGeometry features (eg: Geometry containing both Point and Polygon) do not get transformed.

The output is simply a blank shapefile containing no shapes or attributes.

I have tried this command:

ogr2ogr -overwrite -f "ESRI Shapefile" -where OGR_GEOMETRY='MultiGeometry' <ouputfolder> <input kml>

For an example, KML file which has MultiGeometry, you can see the us_states.kml hosted by Google.

US States KML – Google.com

Other info: I am using 'GDAL 1.10.1, released 2013/08/26' for windows.

Best Answer

Shapefiles don't support MultiGeometry or GeometryCollections, but ogr2ogr can explode them:

ogr2ogr -nlt POLYGON -explodecollections -skipfailures us_states.shp us_states.kml

-explodecollections: (starting with GDAL 1.8.0) produce one feature for each geometry in any kind of geometry collection in the source file

Related Solutions

Shapefile – How to Convert factfinder2.census.gov Map Data to KML

$ ogr2ogr -f KML -s_srs EPSG:3857 -t_srs EPSG:3857 pop_by_census_tract.kml 140_00.shp

creates a KML file with the boundaries in the right places. It needs both of those options. Just -s_srs EPSG:3857 produces the same error as in the initial question, while -t_srs produces one like

ERROR 6: No translation for Mercator_Auxiliary_Sphere to PROJ.4 format is known.
Failed to create coordinate transformation between the
following coordinate systems.  This may be because they
are not transformable, or because projection services
(PROJ.4 DLL/.so) could not be loaded.
Source:
PROJCS["WGS_1984_Web_Mercator_Auxiliary_Sphere",
    ... # Same as 140_00.prj
Target:
PROJCS["WGS 84 / Pseudo-Mercator",
    ... # Same as in the gdal ticket

QGIS – How to Convert KML with Tracks to Shapefiles?

Working (albeit cumbersome) solution to convert KML-/KMZ-files with `<gx:Track>`-Extension to gpx/csv/tcx, via Googles MyTracks-App.

I tried to import a .kmz-file to QGIS, containing a GPS-track as <gx:track>-Element. (Track was recorded with MyTracks-App on Android. I only had the .kmz.)

After numerous attempts, using various tools (GPS-Tools-PlugIn, GPSBabel, some online tool, etc.) which never converted the track (i.e. LineString) but only the point features, i remembered that MyTracks offers an import-option as well. So imported the .kmzto MyTracks , exported the track as .gpx and was finally able to import the .gpx to QGIS. Job done.

Here is a brief, illustrated HowTo, just in case someone is interested (sry for german UI):

1.) Copy .kmz to MyTracks/kml on device.