Utilities to convert MapInfo .MIF to ESRI shape files?

[Vinod Chettur]

Thanks to all who responded to my question. The ESRI command line utility
worked very well. Had it not been brought to my attention I would have still
been searching for it since it does not seem to show up on the ESRI website
search engine. 

Vinod
-----Original Message-----
From: Daniel Morissette
To: mapserver-users at lists.gis.umn.edu
Cc: Vinod Chettur; Frank Warmerdam
Sent: 3/20/00 12:16 AM
Subject: Re: Utilities to convert MapInfo .MIF to ESRI shape files?

Vinod Chettur wrote:
> 
> Hello everyone,
> 
> I was just wondering what would be the simplest way to convert some of
my
> .MIF files to shape files without having to purchase any of ESRI's
tools.
> Any command line utilities out there?
> 
> Thanks, Vinod

Vinod, and other MapServer users,

I think that the Windows utilities that were posted in reply to your
question a couple of days ago are probably the best option if you have
access to a Windows system, which is quite likely if you are dealing
with MIF files.

However, the OpenSource fans around will be happy to hear that there is
also an OpenSource/multiplatform solution coming down the pipe.  We have
at the moment a command-line utility that could be compiled on any OS
and could go between MIF, TAB, SHAPE, and a bunch of other formats, but
it's not very user-friendly yet, that's why I think the Windows
solutions above are still the best (if they really work!).

What I'm talking about is the OGR library, it is an OpenSource lib in 
C++ that implements the OGC simple feature specs (and supports SFCOM) to
give generic access to vector formats.  The OGR was written by Frank
Warmerdam (who also wrote the Shapelib that gives MapServer its shape
file access) and at the moment it supports a number of formats including
SHAPE, MIF and TAB.   One of the OGR test programs is a command-line
utility to go from one format to another, I could make a copy available
if anyone needs it.  

Also, one of our plans in the next few months is to implement an
optional MapServer module based on OGR that would give transparent
access to multiple data formats.  This will have to be coordinated with
Steve and would not replace the optimized Shapefile access, but for
those who are ready to pay a small price in performance, then this will
become a very interesting option.

For more information, the OGR web page is at:
	http://gdal.velocet.ca/projects/opengis/index.html

The MITAB libary's web page (MIF and TAB read/write):
	http://pages.infinit.net/danmo/e00/index-mitab.html

Best Regards,
-- 
------------------------------------------------------------
 Daniel Morissette                       danmo at videotron.ca
              http://pages.infinit.net/danmo/
------------------------------------------------------------
  Don't put for tomorrow what you can do today, because if 
      you enjoy it today you can do it again tomorrow.