[Qgis-user] Question on default file formats

[Árni Geirsson]

Thanks for the answer Jim. I understand that the shapefiles are lingua
franca but to me that would imply that they should be used when exchange
with other applications is needed - which is not always. But I had not
realized that I might be constraining the set of available tools if I use
SpatiaLite. Does this mean that if I have my date in SpatiaLite, many of
the tools in the Processing toolbox would not be available to me?

Arni


Árni Geirsson
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On Tue, Jul 28, 2015 at 3:54 PM, James Keener <jim at jimkeener.com> wrote:

> More tools support it. Spatialite wasn't supported in esri until very
> recently and other tools may not support anything but shape files. It's
> become a lingual franca, and like English: it's terrible, but works well
> enough.
>
> Jim
>
> On July 28, 2015 11:38:24 AM AST, "Árni Geirsson" <arni at alta.is> wrote:
>
>> Hello
>> I find it interesting that the ancient shapefile format is (or at least
>> appears to be) the default file format for QGIS when SpatiaLite seems to be
>> a much more capable format. I have been using mostly shapefiles and when
>> using for example the tools under the vector menu, intermediate results are
>> saved as shapefiles, leading to a big pile of files after a short session
>> of vector processing. Now, I have discovered that by using the processing
>> tools the intermediates can be temporary files (still shapefiles, just
>> hidden away in a temporary folder). After saving a temporary file as a
>> SpatiaLite file, I can enter field names longer than 10 characters but I
>> can not add a text field that accommodates more than 255 characters.
>> So my question is: Why is the shapefile format the default?
>>
>> I have also noticed that with 2.10 I can save in Geopackage format. Does
>> that mean that support for this format has improved?
>>
>> Any insights are highly appreciated.
>>
>> Arni Geirsson
>>
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>>
> --
> Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
>
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