mapgis2shp 2.0.0

Read MapGIS vector files (.wt, .wl, .wp) into GeoPandas GeoDataFrames

pymapgis

Read MapGIS 6.x/67 vector files (.wt, .wl, .wp) into GeoPandas GeoDataFrames.

MapGIS is a widely used closed-source GIS platform in China, especially in geological surveying, engineering, and scientific research. pymapgis provides a lightweight, open-source reader for its native point, line, and polygon vector formats.

Features

• Read point (.wt), line (.wl), and polygon (.wp) files
• Decode GBK-encoded attribute fields and field names
• Reconstruct polygon topology from arc records
• Preserve or repair invalid polygon geometries with shapely.make_valid
• Export to any format supported by GeoPandas / Fiona (Shapefile, GeoJSON, GeoPackage, etc.)
• Simple command-line interface for quick conversions

Installation

pip install mapgis2shp

The Python package is imported as pymapgis:

from pymapgis import Reader

Quick start

from pymapgis import Reader

with Reader("example.wp") as r:
    print(r)
    # Write to Shapefile
    r.geodataframe.to_file("example.shp")
    # Or access the GeoDataFrame directly
    print(r.geodataframe.head())

Command-line usage

# Convert a polygon file to Shapefile
pymapgis input.wp output.shp

# Convert to GeoJSON
pymapgis input.wl output.geojson --driver GeoJSON

# Keep raw (possibly invalid) polygon geometries
pymapgis input.wp output.shp --no-make-valid

API

Reader(filepath, make_valid=True)

Main entry point for reading a MapGIS file.

Attributes

Attribute	Type	Description
shapeType	str	"POINT", "LINE", or "POLYGON"
crs	pyproj.CRS or None	Detected coordinate reference system
bbox	numpy.ndarray	Bounding box [minx, miny, maxx, maxy]
fields	list[tuple]	Field metadata: (name, type_name, length)
data	pandas.DataFrame	Attribute table
geom	list[shapely.geometry]	Geometry objects
geodataframe	geopandas.GeoDataFrame	Combined attributes and geometry

Methods

• to_file(filepath, **kwargs) — forward to GeoDataFrame.to_file

Exceptions

• MapGISError — base exception
• InvalidFileError — unsupported or unrecognized file
• TopoError — polygon topology reconstruction error
• InvalidDirectoryError — reserved for project/directory errors

Supported formats

Extension	Geometry type	Notes
.wt	Point	93-byte fixed record size
.wl	LineString	57-byte arc index + coordinate block
.wp	Polygon/MultiPolygon	Arc index + topology table + coordinate block

CRS detection supports the most common projections found in MapGIS 6.x files, including longitude/latitude, Gauss-Krüger (Transverse Mercator), Lambert Conformal Conic, and Albers Equal-Area. Because MapGIS stores only projection and ellipsoid index numbers, the complete CRS depends on external MapGIS index files (ellip.dat, etc.).

Development

Clone the repository and install in editable mode with dev dependencies:

git clone https://github.com/pymapgis/pymapgis.git
cd pymapgis
pip install -e ".[dev]"

Run the test suite:

pytest

Run the smoke-test regression against all local MapGIS files:

python verify_pymapgis.py

License

This project is licensed under the Apache License 2.0.

Acknowledgments

The original reverse-engineering of the MapGIS binary format was done by the author of the legacy pymapgis.py script. This package refactors and extends that work into an installable, tested library.