ShapeFile.md

+<!-- Name: ShapeFile -->
+<!-- Version: 2 -->
+<!-- Last-Modified: 2009/12/11 13:26:05 -->
+<!-- Author: springmeyer -->
+# Shapefile Plugin
+
+This plugin supports reading shapefiles. They can also be read using the [[OGR]] Plugin, but the *shape* plugin is better tested and more mature.
+
+The shapefile plugin will run fastest if you build indexes for your shapefiles using the 'shapeindex' command line tool installed when you build Mapnik.
+
+For other plugins see: [[PluginArchitecture]]
+
+# Installation
+
+To check if the raster plugin built and was installed correctly you can do:
+
+```python
+    >>> from mapnik import DatasourceCache as c
+    >>> 'shape' in c.plugin_names()
+    True
+```
+
+## Parameters
+
+| *parameter*       | *value*  | *description* | *default* |
+|:------------------|----------|---------------|----------:|
+| encoding             | string       | Encoding Used |  utf-8. ESRI Shapefiles are usually 'latin1' |
+| file              | string | name of shapefile (without extension) | | 
+
+
+# Styling
+
+To style a layer, use any of the Symbolizers like Point, Polygon, or Line, depending on the geometry type.
+
+# Usage
+
+## Python
+
+## C++
+
+Plugin datasource initialization example code can be found on PluginArchitecture.
+
+A Shapefile datasource may be created as follows:
+
+```cpp
+    {
+        parameters p;
+        p["type"]="shape";
+        p["file"]="path/to/my/shapefile.shp";
+    
+        // Bridges
+        Layer lyr("Vector");
+        lyr.set_datasource(datasource_cache::instance()->create(p));
+        lyr.add_style("vector");
+        m.addLayer(lyr);
+    }
+```
+
+## XML
+
+```xml
+    <Layer name="vector" srs="+init=epsg:4236">
+            <StyleName>polygon</StyleName>
+            <Datasource>
+                    <Parameter name="type">shape</Parameter>
+                    <!-- you can also point to your shapefile without the 'shp' extention -->
+                    <Parameter name="file">/path/to/your/shapefile.shp</Parameter>
+            </Datasource>
+    </Layer>
+```
+
+## Further References