[mapserver-users] strange data in shp file

[Ed McNierney]

James -

It looks like the new SHP files are projected - probably in UTM or a
regional / state coordinate system.  Unfortunately, there's nothing IN a
shapefile that tells you what projection it is.  If there's a .PRJ file
with the same root name, that will give you info.

MapServer can reproject layers of any different coordinate systems onto
the same map.  But you need to tell it what coordinate systems each SHP
file is in - otherwise it will assume they're all the same.  In your
case, that means interpreting those numbers as lat/lon, which puts them
way out in hyperspace somewhere.

	- Ed

Ed McNierney
Chief Mapmaker
TopoZone.com


-----Original Message-----
From: James Healy [mailto:jimmy at deefa.com] 
Sent: Friday, August 30, 2002 10:29 PM
To: mapserver-users at lists.gis.umn.edu
Subject: [mapserver-users] strange data in shp file


Hi there

I'm fairly new to using mapserver, and have hit a bit of a brick wall.

Up till now, all my data (which is in shp files) has worked beautifully.
if i run shpdump (from the shapelib pkg), then i can see all the coords
are in regular decimal latitude and longitudes.

However, some new data i received recently (again, this is in shp
format) doesn't seem to work. Mapserver doesn't complain, and displays a
map, but the layers that are using the new data cant be seen. When I ran
a shpdump on these new files, the coords range anywhere from 250 000 to
5 000 000 or so. 

Is this normal? Or is the new data stuffed? Can I run the new data if i
only use shp files that use the same coords system?

any help would be much appreciated

james
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