To Export SHP Files

ESRI SHP files store both geometry and attributes (data) for features. A single shape can have as many as five physical files with the same filename, but different file extensions.

To export drawing objects to SHP

  1. At the command line, enter MAPEXPORT and press <ENTER>.
  2. In the Export Location dialog box, select the ESRI Shapefile format and a location for the exported files. Click OK.
  3. In the Export dialog box, specify how to export objects. To use settings that you stored previously, click Load and select the profile containing the settings.
  4. On the Selection tab, specify the objects to export.
    • To select a subset of objects, click Select manually and choose either Select Objects or Quick Select.
    • To filter the selection to export only objects on specific layers or in specific classes, specify the layers and classes to include.
    • To export polygons from a polygon topology, select the topology.
    • To preview the objects that will be exported, click Preview Filtered Selection.
  5. On the Data tab, click Select Attributes and select the data to export with the objects.
    Tip:

    If you are exporting data from an external database, you can export the entire record from the database or just the key fields. Because the key field values are stored in the map, choosing the key field (listed under Link Templates) makes the export faster.

  6. On the Options tab, select the options you want.
    • To perform a coordinate conversion, you must have a coordinate system assigned to the map.
    • Check Treat closed polylines as polygons (if it is available) unless you want only polygon objects to be exported as polygons.
    • Click Driver Options to select Two Dimension Shape Files or Three Dimension Shape Files.
  7. Click OK to begin the export process.