[gdal-dev] Fastest vector format for combining shapefiles

[Jukka Rahkonen]

Hi,

I am combining some GIS data where each layer is divided to around thousand
separare shapefiles by mapsheets. Now I would like to store all the 35000
shapefiles to something that is more easy to handle. At first pushing each layer
to own Spatialite database feeled perfect, but I have problems with one layer
which has rather lot of data. Appending shapefiles one by one to Spatialite
database gets too slow after the database file has reached a size of around 6
gigabytes. Up till 3-4 gigabyte file size appending data to Spatialite is pretty
fast and because it is a database I guess I will use that for small layers.  But
what might be the fastest vector format that ogr supports to collect the big
layer (thousand shapefiles with total size of about 10 gigabytes) together?  I
would prefer some file based format because data goes to long-time storage, but
I can use Oracle or PostGIS in between if it is faster to do the conversion in
two steps.  What is recommended? Shapefiles, MapInfo tab, Oracle, PostGIS or
something else?

-Jukka Rahkonen-