Convert Shapefile to CSV Online — Free & Instant
Exporting a Shapefile to CSV lets you open geospatial data in spreadsheet tools like Excel, Google Sheets, or Python's pandas. Maparz includes X (longitude) and Y (latitude) columns in the CSV output, along with all attribute fields. This format works best for point data; line and polygon geometry is less naturally represented in CSV.
Converter
When to convert Shapefile to CSV
- Opening point location data in Excel or Google Sheets
- Loading geospatial data into pandas for data science workflows
- Importing into business intelligence tools like Tableau or Power BI
- Sharing attribute data with non-GIS stakeholders
How to convert Shapefile to CSV
- 1
Upload your Shapefile
Drop your .shp file or a ZIP bundle containing the Shapefile components.
- 2
Select CSV output
Click CSV in the format selector panel.
- 3
Convert and download
The output CSV contains all attributes plus X and Y geometry columns.
- 4
Open in Excel
Open the .csv file in Excel. Use the X column as longitude and Y as latitude for mapping.
About Shapefile format
Shapefile (SHP) is the de-facto standard vector format developed by Esri. A shapefile is actually a collection of at least three files: .shp (geometry), .dbf (attributes), and .shx (index). Despite its age, it remains the most widely-supported format across GIS desktop software including ArcGIS and QGIS. Shapefiles support points, lines, and polygons but are limited to 2 GB in size and 10-character field names. When sharing shapefiles, always bundle them into a .zip archive.
Strengths
- +Universal compatibility with all GIS software
- +Stable, well-documented format
- +Supported natively by QGIS, ArcGIS, GRASS
About CSV format
CSV (Comma-Separated Values) files containing geometry data typically include latitude and longitude columns (or X/Y columns for projected data). Many data providers distribute point datasets as CSV because they are easy to open in Excel, Python, and R. When converting from a vector format to CSV, Maparz outputs an X (longitude) and Y (latitude) column along with all attribute data. To convert CSV to GeoJSON, your file must have columns identifiable as longitude (x, lon, lng, longitude) and latitude (y, lat, latitude).
Strengths
- +Opens in Excel, Google Sheets, any spreadsheet
- +Human-readable and editable
- +Lightweight for point data
Frequently asked questions
What column names will the geometry be stored in?
Maparz adds X (longitude/easting) and Y (latitude/northing) columns to the output CSV.
Does CSV work well for polygon Shapefiles?
CSV is best suited for point data. For polygon or line Shapefiles, use GeoJSON or GeoPackage to preserve the full geometry.
Can I reimport the CSV back to a GIS format?
Yes. Use the csv-to-geojson tool on Maparz, or load the CSV into QGIS using the Delimited Text Layer import.