Problem importing ESRI Shape files

On Fri, 07 May 1999 12:03:29 -0400, Frank Warmerdam wrote:

>e9325495 at stud3.tuwien.ac.at wrote:
>> 
>> Hi!
>> 
>> I have some comercial shape files that I can't import with v.in.arc. ( I use Grass 5.0b)
>> g.region responses with an error message "north must be north of south.." or something like that.
>> Could it be there ist something wrong with the projection? How can I change the projection?
>> The files work perfectly with ArcView 3.0.
>> Anybody got a solution for this problem?
>> 
>> Thanx, Werner Masik
>
>Werner,
>
>As I understand it v.in.arc reads arc/info generate files.  If you want to 
>read shapefiles you might try building my v.in.shape program.  

Sorry, I was confused. When I wrote v.in.arc I meant v.in.shape. :-) I'm running GRASS 5.0beta so it is already part of the distribution. 
I'm a newbie on GIS-Systems so I have some problems with all the different coordinate systems.  I can't find out why one shape-file can be imported without 
any problems and the other fails. The shape files cannot be damaged because they are comercial and work perfectly on ArcView 3.0. So I thought that the 
files that don't work are in some kind of different projection. But how can ArcView know the difference? Anyway - the files that can be imported seem to be a 
little distorted on the screen. Maybe this is a projection problem too.
The last thing I'd like to know: how  can  I put the import shape-vector files into a new mapset? Because the parameter [mapset=name] doesn't seem to be 
enough. I read somewhere that when I create a new mapset then a new projection is created. Maybe this would be the solution.
If anybody is interested in analyzing the files I can send you some sample data.

Thanx, Werner

>
>  http://gdal.velocet.ca/projects/grass
>
>Good luck,

Thank you - I will need it!

>
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>