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Convert GML to Shapefile Online — Free GIS Converter

Convert GML from WFS services and INSPIRE portals to Shapefile (.zip) for ArcGIS, QGIS, Tableau, and legacy GIS workflows.

Updated May 2026

GML is the standard output of government WFS services and INSPIRE portals, but Shapefile remains the most widely accepted input format for ArcGIS workflows, government data systems, and analytics tools like Tableau — making this conversion a routine task for GIS professionals working with open government data.

Why convert GML to Shapefile?

Government agencies and EU INSPIRE portals publish spatial data as GML because it is the OGC standard for WFS services. However, many downstream workflows — ArcGIS geodatabase imports, Tableau spatial joins, AutoCAD Civil 3D design, and legacy data submission portals — require Shapefile as their input format. GML's complex XML schema and namespace handling also make it difficult to load reliably into older GIS software versions. Converting GML to Shapefile normalizes the data into a flat, geometry-plus-attributes structure that any GIS tool can ingest without requiring XML parsing or schema resolution. This is particularly common when processing downloaded INSPIRE datasets for use in national planning, infrastructure, or environmental workflows.

Why use geodata.plus

  • Free tier includes 3 conversions per month with no account required
  • Automatic GML schema detection and source CRS identification via srsName
  • Optional reprojection to any EPSG code — useful when the GML is in a national CRS and the target Shapefile workflow expects a different projection
  • Entirely browser-based — no GDAL command line or QGIS processing panel required
  • Encrypted upload (TLS); files stored in Cloudflare R2, automatically deleted after 2 days (free) or 7 days (Pro)
  • Output delivered as a .zip archive containing all required Shapefile sidecar files

How it works

  1. Upload your .gml file to geodata.plus
  2. geodata.plus reads the GML feature schema and srsName to detect format and CRS automatically
  3. Select Shapefile as the output format; choose a target CRS if your workflow requires it
  4. Download the .zip containing .shp, .shx, .dbf, and .prj files

GML format

GML (Geography Markup Language) is an OGC XML standard that serves as the formal encoding for WFS services and the EU INSPIRE spatial data infrastructure. GML supports any coordinate reference system, all vector geometry types, and complex nested feature schemas. It comes in multiple versions (GML 2, 3.1, 3.2), each with slightly different namespaces and geometry encoding rules. GML files are self-describing when accompanied by their XSD schema, but the verbosity and complexity of GML XML makes manual inspection and manipulation impractical compared to simpler formats.

| Property | Value | |---|---| | Extension | .gml | | Type | Vector, single-file XML | | Coordinate system | Any CRS (declared via srsName) | | Geometry types | Point, LineString, Polygon, Multi- variants, complex curves/surfaces | | Common software | QGIS, ArcGIS, WFS services, EU INSPIRE portals, government systems |

Shapefile format

Shapefile is Esri's legacy multi-file vector format, in continuous use since the early 1990s and still the most universally accepted vector exchange format in GIS. A complete Shapefile consists of at minimum .shp (geometry), .shx (index), and .dbf (attributes), plus .prj for CRS definition. Its limitations are well-known: field names are capped at 10 characters, file size is limited to 2 GB, datetime fields are not supported, and each file can hold only one geometry type. Despite these constraints, Shapefile is accepted by every GIS application, countless government submission portals, and non-GIS tools like Tableau and Excel Power Query.

| Property | Value | |---|---| | Extension | .shp + .shx + .dbf + .prj (delivered as .zip) | | Type | Vector, multi-file | | Coordinate system | Any CRS (defined in .prj) | | Geometry types | Point, Polyline, Polygon (one type per file) | | Common software | ArcGIS, QGIS, Tableau, AutoCAD Civil 3D, government portals |

Frequently asked questions

GML feature attribute names can be very long. What happens to them in the Shapefile DBF? Shapefile field names are limited to 10 characters. geodata.plus automatically truncates GML property names that exceed this limit and appends a numeric suffix if truncation creates duplicate names (e.g., localAuthori and localAuth_1). A field name mapping is included as metadata so you can trace which DBF column corresponds to which original GML property.

My GML file contains mixed geometry types. How does Shapefile handle this? Shapefile requires all features in a single file to share the same geometry type. When GML contains mixed geometry types, geodata.plus splits the output into separate Shapefiles — one per geometry type — packaged together in the output ZIP. QGIS and ArcGIS will load each as a separate layer.

The GML from our WFS service is in ETRS89. Will the Shapefile be in the same CRS? By default, geodata.plus preserves the source CRS in the output .prj file, so the Shapefile will be in ETRS89. If you need it in a different CRS — for example WGS 84 or a national UTM zone — you can select the target EPSG code during conversion and geodata.plus will reproject before writing the Shapefile.

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