Convert Shapefile to KML
Drop the zip or the .shp, .dbf and .prj. One placemark per record, attributes in the balloon, and nothing leaves your browser.
or drop the .zip, or the .shp, .dbf and .prj together
How the conversion works
- 1
Choose the shapefile as one .zip, or select the .shp, .dbf and .prj together.
- 2
Geometries come from the .shp and are reprojected to WGS 84 through the .prj, since KML only knows degrees. Each DBF record becomes a Placemark; a field called name, title or label becomes its name, the others go to ExtendedData.
- 3
Download the .kml and open it in Google Earth or Google My Maps.
How each part is mapped
The .prj matters most here: without it the metres of a projected shapefile are written as if they were degrees, and Google Earth shows nothing. A notice says when that happened.
| Shapefile | KML |
|---|---|
| Point, MultiPoint | Point, or a MultiGeometry of Points. |
| PolyLine | LineString, or a MultiGeometry of LineStrings for several parts. |
| Polygon | Polygon with outerBoundaryIs and innerBoundaryIs for holes, or a MultiGeometry for several outer rings. |
| DBF field name, title, label, id | The Placemark name, matched case-insensitively. |
| Every other DBF field | An ExtendedData Data element, shown in the Google Earth balloon. |
What it does not do
- No styles: the placemarks take Google Earth's defaults.
- A shapefile without a .prj is passed through unchanged. If it was in metres, the result is not on the map. Add the .prj and convert again.
- Z and M values are dropped.
- Files up to 50 MB together. Google Earth itself slows down well before that; My Maps stops at 2,000 features per layer.
Questions people ask
- Does my shapefile get uploaded?
- No. The files are read in your browser tab and the KML is written there. Nothing is sent.
- Google Earth shows nothing after I open the KML.
- The shapefile was in a projected system and the .prj was missing, so metres were written as degrees. Select the .prj together with the .shp and .dbf and convert again.
- Can I import the result into Google My Maps?
- Yes, as a layer, up to 2,000 features and 5 MB per layer. Split a large shapefile in QGIS first.
- Which field becomes the placemark name?
- The first DBF field called name, title, label or id, case ignored. Rename a field in QGIS if you want another one.
- Why does the .dbf text look wrong?
- Add the .cpg file from the same folder. It names the encoding; without it the page guesses.
Other free tools
- KML to Shapefile
- CSV to KML
- GeoJSON to KML
- Shapefile to GeoJSON
- Shapefile to CSV
- KMZ to KML
- Shapefile to KMZ
- GPX to KML
- KML to CSV
- KML to GeoJSON
- GeoJSON to Shapefile
- CSV to Shapefile
- CSV to GeoJSON
- GeoJSON to CSV
- KML to KMZ
- KMZ to Shapefile
- KMZ to CSV
- CSV to KMZ
- KML to GPX
- KMZ to GPX
- GPX to KMZ
- Merge GPX
- Coordinate converter
- All free tools
Next, open it in QGIS
Every one of these files loads in QGIS in one dialog. Once the points or polygons sit on your imagery, the two TerraLab plugins take over: AI Segmentation detects the objects the file is missing, AI Edit renders a project on the map.