pyshp

The Python Shapefile Library (PyShp) provides read and write support for the Esri Shapefile format. The Shapefile format is a popular Geographic Information System vector data format created by Esri. For more information about this format please read the well-written “ESRI Shapefile Technical Description – July 1998” located at http://www.esri.com/library/whitepapers/pdfs/shapefile.pdf. The Esri document describes the shp and shx file formats. However a third file format called dbf is also required. This format is documented on the web as the “XBase File Format Description” and is a simple file-based database format created in the 1960’s. For more on this specification see: http://www.clicketyclick.dk/databases/xbase/format/index.html Both the Esri and XBase file-formats are very simple in design and memory efficient which is part of the reason the shapefile format remains popular despite the numerous ways to store and exchange GIS data available today.