[Gdal-dev] RFC DRAFT: Unicode support in GDAL

[Mateusz Loskot]

Mateusz Loskot wrote:
> May be we could try to compose a list of formats that are 
> Unicode-friendly and on what conditions. What do you think?

I checked if ArcGIS handles Unicode in Shapefile and it seems it's
officially supported, though I'm not the ArcGIS user but I've only read
its manual.

Also, ArcSDE provide some/limited Unicode support.

ESRI Personal Geodatabase supports Unicode well.


Here is a bunch of URLs:


FAQ: Does ArcGIS Desktop support Unicode?

<http://support.esri.com/index.cfm?fa=knowledgebase.techarticles.articleShow&d=27345>


ArcSDE geodatabases have limited support for Unicode.

<http://support.esri.com/index.cfm?fa=knowledgebase.techarticles.articleShow&d=27341>

HOWTO:  Read and write Shapefile and dBASE file encoded in various
code pages

<http://support.esri.com/index.cfm?fa=knowledgebase.techarticles.articleShow&d=21106>

Interesting quotes:
"Note: You can now store Shapefile in UTF-8. However, Shapefile encoded
in UTF-8 will only be recognized in ArcGIS Desktop."

I'm not sure how to understand this quote, but I also believe
every client software that works with Shapefile format is free to
support Unicode in Shapefile files, isn't it?


Cheers
-- 
Mateusz Loskot
http://mateusz.loskot.net