Please help me open these files!

June 20, 2008 7:44 AM

Can someone tell me what software would open these files (or could you open them for me)?

I received a bunch of files from a colleague, and I don't think I have the software to open them. There are:

Two Illustrator Tsume files
two SBN files (.sbn)
two SHX files (.shx)
two SHP files (.shp)
two DBF files (.dbf)

I need to see if these files are the data that I have been waiting for, and don't need the programs otherwise. Does anyone out there know how to open these, or if I sent them, could you open them and save them as something that I can use? Thanks in advance!

posted by bolognius maximus to computers & internet (9 answers total)

http://filext.com/ is pretty good for stuff like this. According to them, they're all ArcView files.
posted by xbonesgt at 7:57 AM on June 20, 2008

You could usefilext.com for more info? That'd at least tell you what software you could use.
posted by Jofus at 8:03 AM on June 20, 2008

(xbonesgt was first *and* better formatted.)
posted by Jofus at 8:04 AM on June 20, 2008

I hate to state the obvious, but could you tell the colleague that you don't have the required software and ask him to save them in another format?
posted by vytae at 8:19 AM on June 20, 2008 [1 favorite]

They are ArcView/ArcGIS files and with the exception of the .dbf file (which can be opened in Excel or most other database applications) you cannot view them outside of the parent application. However, the tables (.dbf) sounds like what you really need to see. The other files just allow it to be viewed graphically and geospatially. If you need to see the data displayed graphically, ask your colleague to create a PDF from the Layout. Hopefully he'll understand.
posted by elendil71 at 8:32 AM on June 20, 2008

Nthing that they are GIS files. Your colleague could also export the graphics in jpeg format if PDF is troublesome.
posted by schyler523 at 9:17 AM on June 20, 2008

The DBF file is also part of the GIS files. Another option for export is into Autocad. I believe you can find some free viewers for it. I can open them if you really need to.
posted by rholly at 9:37 AM on June 20, 2008

Thanks, everyone! I got my data!
posted by bolognius maximus at 10:46 AM on June 20, 2008

I think Quantum GIS will open them.
posted by PueExMachina at 6:34 PM on June 20, 2008