Global Mapper v25.0

how to open "LYR" file?

JSL
JSL Global Mapper UserTrusted User
edited March 2015 in Vector Data
I'm trying to open a file of catchments that I downloaded from the Australian Govt Bureau of Meteorology (SH_Catchments_GDB_V2_1.zip from Downloads: Geofabric: Water Information: Bureau of Meteorology), but it unzips as a .LYR file. What format should I assign to it in order to open it in GM?

Thanks for any help.

Comments

  • JSL
    JSL Global Mapper User Trusted User
    edited June 2014
    Sorry, make that the HR_Catchments_GDB_V2_1.zip--the other one takes too long to download.
  • global_mapper
    global_mapper Administrator
    edited June 2014
    It looks like the data is an Esri File Geodatabase (GDB). You can load some of those into any Global Mapper with File->Open Data File. Just load the 'gdb' file or the .zip directly. However many GDB files will only load with the licensed Esri libraries, so you have to use the 32-bit GM on a machine with an Esri license (i.e. ArcMap, ArcGis, ArcView, etc.) to load the GDB. Esri hasn't joined the 64-bit world yet, so you can't use the 64-bit GM with their libraries.

    Note this is terrible of governments to distribute free data in a proprietary format requiring a license of some very expensive software to load, but I've seen many government agencies that don't know any better providing their data as GDB since it was originally promised to be 'open', but it never really materialized.

    Thanks,

    Mike
    Global Mapper Guru
    geohelp@bluemarblegeo.com
    Blue Marble Geographics for Coordinate Conversion, Image Reprojection and Vector Translation
  • JSL
    JSL Global Mapper User Trusted User
    edited June 2014
    Thanks for that--I couldn't open it. There is an option to email the agency for shapefiles--is there a particular format in which I should request the files to be sent?
  • global_mapper
    global_mapper Administrator
    edited June 2014
    Shapefiles would be the format to ask for. If they can provide the data in Shapefiles that should load right in to GM.

    Thanks,

    Mike
    Global Mapper Guru
    geohelp@bluemarblegeo.com
    Blue Marble Geographics for Coordinate Conversion, Image Reprojection and Vector Translation
  • JSL
    JSL Global Mapper User Trusted User
    edited June 2014
    I went back and looked at the folder I downloaded and tried to open the file again--attached is a screenshot of the directory, with the gdb file circled. When I tried to open the gdb file, this is the error that I got:

    Unable to load overlay gdb
    This release of the GeoDatabase is either invalid or out of date.
    The ESRI File Geodatabase library does not support GDB files from ArcGIS v9.x or earlier. You will need to convert your GDB data set to a newer version using ArcGIS v10.x or later to make it readable.
    ESRIFileGDBOverlay.cpp - 963
    Version: v15.2.5 (64-bit)
    Build Time: Jun 21 2014 08:36:52

    This was in the email I got from the Australian water agency in response for my request for shapefiles. (I don't think they understood that my problem was not in downloading, but in opening):

    [FONT=&amp]"The Bureau of Meteorology understands the need to supply the Geofabric Products in an accessible file format. Providing the data in ESRI Shapefile format makes it available to the widest possible audience.[/FONT]

    [FONT=&amp]We would like to inform you that as a consequence of converting from ESRI File Geodatabase format to ESRI Shapefile format, certain ‘out-of-the-box’ Geodatabase functionality must be manually reproduced in the target software. The supporting documentation identifies the functionality that is ‘lost’ in the transformation process."

    Is there something I can do in GM to open that file, or something I can request from the Australian agency, or am I just at an impasse?

    Thanks for your help.
    [/FONT]
  • global_mapper
    global_mapper Administrator
    edited June 2014
    To open the GDB in GM you have to use the 32-bit GM on a machine with an Esri license and install for something like ArcMap, ArcGIS, or ArcView. Then the installed Esri libraries can be used to load the GDB file. Esri has free libraries for loading GDB data sets, but they don't work on Arc 9.x GDB files or even all of the Arc 10.x GDB files. In this case the GDB is from Arc 9.x so it requires the Esri license to load.

    Thanks,

    Mike
    Global Mapper Guru
    geohelp@bluemarblegeo.com
    Blue Marble Geographics for Coordinate Conversion, Image Reprojection and Vector Translation
  • JSL
    JSL Global Mapper User Trusted User
    edited June 2014
    Do you think the files will open with the ArcGIS Explorer Desktop viewer? If not, I can download a 60 day trial of the ArcGIS Desktop. However, first I need to know if I can download the 32 bit version of GM on my Windows 7 computer? I currently use the 64 bit version.

    Thanks for your help.
  • global_mapper
    global_mapper Administrator
    edited June 2014
    I'm honestly not sure if the ArcGIS Explorer will load GDB files. The ArcGIS Desktop trial should work though and will hopefully provide the licensed libraries that GM needs to load the ESRI proprietary stuff.

    You can download and install the 32-bit GM from Global Mapper Downloads. It will run fine on 64-bit Windows and will install alongside your 64-bit version with no problems and share the license and all settings.

    Thanks,

    Mike
    Global Mapper Guru
    geohelp@bluemarblegeo.com
    Blue Marble Geographics for Coordinate Conversion, Image Reprojection and Vector Translation
  • JSL
    JSL Global Mapper User Trusted User
    edited July 2014
    The agency was able to send me a link to download shapefiles, so I'm all set--thanks for your help.
  • paul.bade
    paul.bade Global Mapper User Trusted User
    edited March 2015
    Hi Mike,

    would it be possible to implement a function to create GM style files from .lyr packages (ideally without having ArcGIS installed)? We regularly receive our data in packages including shape AND .lyr files. Thus we're loading the shapes into GM, but need to set the styles manually. It would be highly appreciated if we could automatically read it from the .lyr package.

    Best regards,
    Paul
  • bmg_bob
    bmg_bob Global Mapper Programmer
    edited March 2015
    Hello Paul,

    An .lyr file is in a proprietary Esri format, and I haven't seen a software function library that has reverse-engineered it so that it could be imported without an Esri license.

    Cheers,

    Bob
  • Hello everyone, I have a question and maybe you can help me. I really need to export layer files (lyr.) from Arcgis to Global Mapper, but I only achieved exporting the shapefiles, I mean, without any feature in it. So, do you know if that is possible?, If it is, how should I do it? 

    Thank you very much, sorry for my English.
  • bmg_bob
    bmg_bob Global Mapper Programmer
    If you export a shapefile from ArcGIS, that can definitely be imported into Global Mapper.  That will get the geometry into Global Mapper, but not the style information.

    Global Mapper can not import Esri .lyr files.  An .lyr file is in a proprietary Esri format, and I haven't seen a software function library that has reverse-engineered it so that it can be imported without an Esri license.