Shapefile Format

Versions Supported

This TomTom® product is compatible with Environmental Systems Research Institute's (ESRI®) ArcView® software version:
  • ArcView® 3.1 or higher.
This product also can be read by ArcGIS® 8.x. and higher. See your GIS documentation to add a shapefile.

Format Specifics

Shapefile is a widely used open format that represents spatial data in layers. It was developed by ESRI®, Inc. MultiNet® Shapefile is easy to integrate in an application environment because of its layered data model and standard GIS format. With Shapefile format you can:
  • Import into commercial GIS software and other applications;
  • Implement as geo-objects in a relational database management system (RDBMS) with spatial functionality;
  • Use layers with defined themes and a clearly displayed set of attributes;
  • Extend with new feature layers.
Note: Area features are generalized to limit the number of shape points to <=500 000 per feature.

Shapefile IDs

Note: The feature IDs below are theoretical and are used only to show their placement in the ID structure. Also, underlined and bolded text are provided in the examples below to identify ID components.
Note: See also Appendix B - Feature-type Prefixes.

Europe MultiNet

Structure of Shapefile ID = "1", ISO Country ID, feature ID.

Example: (Germany): 12760049000001

United States or Canada MultiNet

Structure of Shapefile ID = FIPS Code (U.S.) or Province Code (Canada), ISO Country ID, feature ID.

Example: (Massachusettes): 258400049000001

AX Folder

Next to the core map folders, which are tiled to manageable data size tiles, there is also an "ax" folder. This folder contains all Administrative Areas and their Boundary Lines for a complete country or set of countries.

See also How to Resolve Duplicate Shapefile IDs in Administrative Areas. The solution involves using the ax files.

Dataset Borders in the AX Folder

In former products the Administrative Boundary edges on the TomTom Database tile borders were merged, not taking into account the merging of the line features on the other side of the tile. This caused the line features to be different on each side of the border. In current products the line features of the Administrative Boundary edges in the ax folder are no longer merged (chained).

Split Files

A number of applications, such as ArcGIS, limit the dbf file size to 2GB. To solve this limitation, TomTom offers split files under 2GB in addition to the complete files that exceed 2GB. All 4 files are split: dbf, shp, prj and shx.

Directories and Files

See "Directory Structure and File Naming" in the MultiNet® and Enhancements Directory Structure and File Naming document, located in the documentation folder.

Record Layouts

See the MultiNet® Shapefile Format Specification document on this documentation DVD for all Shapefile record layout descriptions.