What is the difference between feature class and shapefile

Walking down the hallways of a GIS conference you hear lots of great debate and geek-talk on a variety of topics. A Shapefile vs Feature Class discussion caught my attention the other day at such an event.

This can be a simple or difficult question to answer depending on the way you interpret it. Feature classes are homogeneous collections of common features, each having the same spatial representation, such as points, lines, or polygons, and a common set of attribute columns, for example, a line feature class for representing road centerlines. By this definition, a Shapefile is a Feature Class.

This also helps explain a Geodatabase Feature Class. The Given name for both, really describes the Workspace type. This brings up another discussion on the Shapefile vs Feature Class topic.

There are many similarities, since they are both collections of common features having the same spatial representation Point, Line, Polygon, etc. The differences are mostly in the additional types and behaviours available to a Geodatabase FC. Not going to list them all, but domains, topologic relationships geometric networks, terrains , and the ability to store high precision geometry are a few differences.

Whereas a Shapefile is always stored in a file folder and is more of a universal format support by many. The difference is : in save type only ; thats mean if I save shape file in GDB it's called feature class and if I save shape file without GDB it's called shape file.

Feature classes can be stored in geodatabases, shapefiles, coverages, or other data formats. Feature classes allow homogeneous features to be grouped into a single unit for data storage purposes. For example, highways, primary roads, and secondary roads can be grouped into a line feature class named "roads. Shape file may or may not contains projection system while feature class MUST have coordination system.

This brief comparison may be helpful in making your decision to use. Want to keep this comparison chart for future reference? Download a PDF here. Likely the most significant difference between the two storage choices is that the. It can be used in software from other providers, which makes it more readily available to a wider number of people. On the other hand, a file geodatabase in GIS is an alternate way to store information in one large file.

Any of the three types of geodatabases -- file, personal, or enterprise -- use this structure to accomplish the main purpose of a geodatabase: storing, querying, and manipulating geographic datasets. In some instances, shapefiles and geodatabases are not mutually exclusive.