Esri File Geodatabase
Open BetaFileGDB is Esri's format for storing complex geodata. Supports multiple layers, topology, domains, and subtypes. The de facto standard in enterprise GIS.
Key Features
About FileGDB Format
File Geodatabase is the native storage of ArcGIS. It is not a single file but a .gdb folder holding tables, indexes and service records. Esri made it the replacement for the shapefile, and in corporate GIS it has remained the main unit of storage: long field names, many layers side by side, domains and subtypes, and no two-gigabyte limit per table.
Export to FileGDB is chosen when the data goes to an organization running on ArcGIS Pro: a municipality, a design institute, a utility company. There a geodatabase is the familiar exchange unit, and sending one is usually faster than explaining how to open a GeoJSON.
Each map layer becomes a separate feature class inside a single geodatabase, with OpenStreetMap attributes and a spatial index. Coordinates are WGS84 (EPSG:4326). Since a .gdb is a folder, it is downloaded as a ZIP archive: unpack it and you will find a directory with the .gdb extension inside.
Writing is done by the open GDAL OpenFileGDB driver, so no Esri libraries are needed for the export. Domains, subtypes and topology are not carried over — those add-ons simply do not exist in OpenStreetMap data.
What Program Opens FileGDB Files
The following programs and applications can open, edit, and work with Esri File Geodatabase (.gdb.zip) files exported from OSM2CDR:
Format specifications
- Proprietary format
- 3D coordinates supported
- Lossless (no quality loss)
- Stores feature attributes
- Output: 8 files in archive
- ZIP archive containing an Esri File Geodatabase (.gdb folder, multiple .gdbtable / .gdbindex files). Native ArcGIS Pro format.
Who Uses FileGDB Maps
How to Export FileGDB
How to Open After Export
- Unpack the archive first — ArcGIS and QGIS work with the .gdb folder, not with a ZIP file.
- ArcGIS Pro — in Catalog press Add Database or Connect, point it at the .gdb folder, then drag the feature classes you need onto the map.
- QGIS (free) — Layer → Add Vector Layer, source type "Directory", driver OpenFileGDB, point it at the .gdb folder; the layers will appear as a list.
- ogr2ogr — ogr2ogr -f GPKG out.gpkg map.gdb converts the geodatabase into GeoPackage, PostGIS or Shapefile in one command; ogrinfo will show the list of feature classes.
- FME, Global Mapper, MapInfo — read FileGDB with their standard readers; send the client the whole archive, not individual files from the folder.
Popular maps in FileGDB
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