The MAPIMPORT Procedure

Overview

The MAPIMPORT procedure enables you to import ESRI shapefiles (spatial data formats) and process the SHP files into SAS/GRAPH traditional map data sets. See About Traditional Data Sets for more information.

The MAPIMPORT procedure does not produce any graphics output. Instead, it produces an output map data set, which can be used with the GMAP procedure.

The shapefiles file types are described in the following table:

Shapefiles File Types
File Extension	Description
.dbf	identification information (field-identifier names and values) assigned to specific polygon(s)
.shx	shape information for the polygon(s) that compose the map. Note: These files are used with SHP files and cannot be imported by themselves.
.shp	combines the shape information for the polygon(s) that compose the map and the identification information (field-identifier names and values) assigned to the specific polygon(s)

Note: If you import a very highly-detailed map, then the GMAP procedure might produce extraneous lines when drawing it. To avoid this issue, use the GREDUCE procedure to reduce the number of map points. [cautionend]

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