shptree(1)

💖 shptree — the glow-up your Shape files deserve 💖

okay bestie, settle in, because this is the shptree(1) manual page and honestly? it's giving main character energy for your spatial data. no cap.

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✨ NAME ✨

shptree — creates a quadtree-based spatial index for a Shape data set 🦋

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

shptree [ shpfile [depth] [index_format] | -v]

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🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

so what does shptree actually do? it creates a quadtree-based spatial index for a Shape data set. that's the whole vibe. 💅

the default tree depth gets calculated so that each tree node (aka each quadtree cell) holds 8 shapes. but listen — do not use the default with point files, okay? a value between 6 and 10 seems to work ok. your millage may vary and you'll need to do some experimenting. 🙈

this utility is an absolute must for any MapServer application that uses Shape data sets. shptree creates a spatial index of your Shape data set using a quadtree method, which literally means MapServer will use this index to quickly find the appropriate shapes to draw. iconic behavior, truly. ✨

it creates a file of the same name as your Shape data set, with a .qix file extension. the quadtree method breaks the file into 4 quadrants, recursively, until only a few shapes are contained in each quadrant. and that minimum number? yeah, you can set it with the depth parameter of the command. 🫶

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👑 OPTIONS 👑

• shpfile — the name of the .shp file to index. that's your girl right there.
• depth — (Optional) the maximum depth of the index to create. default is 0, meaning that shptree will calculate a reasonable default depth for you. lowkey magical.
• index_format — (Optional) one of:
  • NL — LSB byte order, using new index format 🌈
  • NM — MSB byte order, using new index format 🌈

the following old format options are deprecated 💀 (like, retired, do not use, we moved on):

• N — Native byte order
• L — LSB (intel) byte order
• M — MSB byte order

the default index_format on this system is: NL

• -v — display mapserver version and build options. a little info dump, as a treat. 💜

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🧚 NOTES 🧚

Shape data sets are native to MapServer, and therefore do not require the .shp extension in the DATA path of the LAYER. in fact — and this is the important part, bestie, so pay attention — in order for MapServer to use the .qix extension you MUST NOT specify the extension. for example:

LAYER
  ...
  DATA "us_states"    #MapServer will search for us_states.qix and will use it
  ...
END

LAYER
  ...
  DATA "us_states.shp" #MapServer will search for us_states.shp.qix and won't find it
  ...
END

Note: as of MapServer 5.2 the qix will be used even when the .shp extension is specified. glow-up era. 👑

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🔥 EXAMPLE 🔥

shptree us_states.shp
  creating index of new  LSB format

Result:

• A file named us_states.qix is created in the same location.
• (note that you can use the shptreevis(1) utility to view the actual quadtree quadrants that are used by MapServer in this qix file) — go peek, it's cute. 👀

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💜 SEE ALSO 💜

• shptreetst(1)
• shptreevis(1)
• sortshp(1)

the shptree wiki page at https://github.com/mapserver/mapserver/wiki/ShpTree may also contain information on this utility. iykyk. 🦋

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and that's the whole page, bestie — this one landed on 22 August 2026, part of the shptree(1) family, and honestly? she ate. slay, shptree(1), periodt. 💅✨🎀