Create shapefile

How do I create a shapefile from Latitute/Longitude Coordinates?

How to create a shapefile from XY coordinates using Excel and ArcMap:

  1. Open ArcMap.
  2. Open the Catalog Pane* and navigate to your file (can be a .csv, .txt, .xls, or .xlsx**)
  3. Right click on your file and hover over “Create Feature Class”, then select “From XY Table…”
  4. In the pop-up window, the X Field should be Longitude and the Y Field should be Latitude.
  5. If you know the spatial reference of the input coordinates, click the “Coordinate System of Input Coordinates…” button. If you’re not sure of the coordinate system of the data, check the metadata (commonly found where you downloaded the data from) or contact the administrator of the dataset, if possible. If you do not select a spatial reference, the shapefile may have an Unknown Coordinate System, or take the incorrect one from the data frame’s properties.
  6. A common geographic coordinate system for XY tables is WGS 84 – to select this system, click the plus icon next to “Geographic Coordinate Systems” and scroll down to the last option, “World”. Click the plus icon and scroll down until you find “WGS 1984”. Select it and then select OK.
  7. Specify where you want to save your shapefile under the Output option and then click OK.
  8. A shapefile will be added to your map. Check against a basemap to make sure the points plotted in the correct locations. If they are not in the correct locations, check the geographic coordinate system you choose in step 5 and make sure that any coordinates South of the Equator and West of the Prime Meridian are negative.

How to create a shapefile using XY coordinates using Excel and ArcGIS Pro:

  1. Open your project in ArcGIS Pro.
  2. With the “Map” tab selected at the upper left hand corner, select “Add Data” in the top ribbon*** (Note: click on the words “Add Data”, not the icon above it).
  3. Select the third option from the dropdown menu, “XY Point Data”.
  4. In the geoprocessing pane that opens, navigate to your file (can be a .csv, .txt, .xls, or .xlsx**), then indicate a save location and file name under “Output Feature Class”.
  5. The X field should be Longitude and the Y field should be Latitude.
  6. If you know the spatial reference of the input coordinates, go down to the Coordinate System option. If you’re not sure of the coordinate system of the data, check the metadata (commonly found where you downloaded the data from) or contact the administrator of the dataset, if possible. If you do not select a spatial reference, the shapefile may have an Unknown Coordinate System, or take the incorrect one from the data frame’s properties.
  7. Under the “Coordinate System” option, ArcGIS Pro will default to the system set for your project. Often, this will be WGS 1984 or WGS 1984 Web Mercator. If ArcGIS Pro has defaulted to another system, you can change it to WGS 1984 by clicking on the globe icon to the right. You can either use the search bar or click the arrow next to each option, Geographic Coordinate System -> World -> WGS 1984. Press OK, then select Run.
  8. A shapefile will be added to your map. Check against a basemap to make sure the points have plotted in the correct locations. If they are not in the correct locations, check the geographic coordinate system you choose in step 5 and make sure that any coordinates South of the Equator and West of the Prime Meridian are negative.

*Help navigating ArcMap

**If you have not installed a Microsoft Office System Driver, you may get an error when trying to use an .xls or .xlsx file. You can get around this by either downloading the driver or by saving the file as a .csv file in Excel. See these instructions

***Help navigating ArcGIS Pro