Failed to Import Shapefile, Invalid Shapefile

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07-12-2011 12:45 PM
JosephRenzetti
New Contributor
When I export out a shapefile or create a new one, all of a sudden ArcGIS Explorer online is not able to import a shapefile. I keep getting an error box with the message, "Failed to Import Shapefile - Invalid Shapefile." I wish it would let me know why it was invalid. Anyone know of a solution to this? I had it working a few days ago.
Thanks.
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58 Replies
MikeRudden
New Contributor
Hi,

I ran the repair geometry tool in ArcGIS Desktop on this shapefile and it found a number of self interesections (see attached).

Subsequently the shapefile imported without any problems.  I saved a map here:
http://explorer.arcgis.com/?open=4142b65ffc8c49f3a2eebccffe706254

Mike
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TeodoraPopa
New Contributor
For me, I noticed that the shape geometry should be point and not multipoint and the shapefile in  lat/long coordinates. This is for small files.
I am trying now a bigger file < 1M ZIPPED and it takes for ever
Teodora
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AllenRisley
Occasional Contributor II
Hi,

I ran the repair geometry tool in ArcGIS Desktop on this shapefile and it found a number of self interesections (see attached).

Subsequently the shapefile imported without any problems.  I saved a map here:
http://explorer.arcgis.com/?open=4142b65ffc8c49f3a2eebccffe706254

Mike


Thanks Mike.  I'll run repair geometry on it as well.  I had no problems working with it in ArcMap before - AGEO must be pickier?  I'm guessing that repairing geometry is probably a good thing to do on all files before attempting to import them to AGEO.

Allen
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JamesScott4
New Contributor
Could you please re-post the shapefile?

Thanks,
Andy


Hi Andy,
Here's the shapefile again.  Thanks,
Jes
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MikeRudden
New Contributor
Hi Andy,
Here's the shapefile again.  Thanks,
Jes


Hi Jes,

This shapefile does not open in ArcGIS Desktop 10. A valid shapefile must consist of the following files: .shp, .dbf and .shx.   The zip file you attached does not contain the .shx file.  For more info see http://www.esri.com/library/whitepapers/pdfs/shapefile.pdf

Additionally to import a shapefile into Explorer Online the .prj file also needs to be present, which it is in your zip.

Mike
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JohnThyne
New Contributor
Just wanted to let you all know that MY failure was caused by NOT turning off the 'Save full path info' in  WinZip. Doh!
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SarahNelson
New Contributor
I know the size limit for shapefiles is supposed to be 10 MB, but I have a hard time uploading any files larger than about 2.5 MB.  I have reduced my features to fewer than 1,000, so I don't believe that's the problem.  The last shapefile I tried to upload returned an error message saying "Failed to import shapefile.  The input shapefile exceeds the maximum allowed limit for embedding graphic features."  Do you have any tips for me? 

I am not able to attach my shapefile here for some reason (the proxy server received an invalid response from an upstream server).  I will try again later if you need to see the shapefile.

Thanks so much!
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StevenKounis
New Contributor
I have the same problem
I attach my zip file below with all the shp,shx,dbf,prj files
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ShellyGill2
Occasional Contributor
There's a few things that would cause a problem in your upload. There's nearly 4000 polygons in this shapefile, substantially over the 1000 record limit for importing into a web map. It's not really advisable to have so many polygon features in a webmap anyway, as performance is not likely to be good (search for other threads in this forum and on the ArcGIS Online forum for more info on this issue). So consider what data you're trying to show, and if it's a lot of features, having a web service of the data would be a better way to go.

There's also a few other things - the file should be a .zip file (as far as I know, .rar is not currently supported), and the shapefile should be in the root of the .zip file, not within a folder (there's a folder called 'untitled folder' within your .rar for example - this structure would not work). Your .prj file is not part of the shapefile - .prj files must have the same base file name as the rest of the files in the shapefile - in your case that would be Export_Output_2.prj. In addition, I'm not sure, but from trying to import this in ArcMap, your shapefile may not actually contain data in the coordinate system that you have in the Greek.prj file. You should ensure that the prj has the correct coordinate system for the data that the shapefile contains - when you import into Explorer Online, the service will then automatically reproject the data into the same coordinante system as the map you're importing in to.

Hope this helps some,
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StevenKounis
New Contributor
Thanks alot.Have already corrected some of my mistakes. But do not know how to properly produce the projection file.
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