The Esri converter
A free, public tool at orbgis.se/converter that converts Esri file formats to open formats, no account needed, and every conversion comes with an honest report of what survived.
What it does#
Upload a File Geodatabase (a zipped .gdb folder), a zipped shapefile, Esri JSON, an ArcInfo grid or coverage, or an uncompressed E00 export, the converter reads it and shows you what’s inside: layers, feature counts, fields, coordinate systems, field domains and relationship classes. Then pick a target: GeoPackage (recommended), GeoJSON, GeoJSON Sequence, FlatGeobuf, CSV with WKT geometry, shapefile, GeoTIFF or Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF.
The conversion report#
Format conversion is rarely lossless, and pretending otherwise is how data quietly breaks. Every result zip includes report.json: per-layer feature counts, geometry handling (curves are linearized where the target has no arc support), field renames (shapefile’s 10-character limit, with a mapping table), coordinate systems, GDAL warnings, and anything that could not be carried, File Geodatabase relationship classes, for example, are documented in the report rather than silently dropped. Formats the tool cannot convert honestly are declined with an explanation and a suggested path.
Privacy and limits#
- Runs on OrbGIS’s own servers in Sweden, uploads never leave the EU.
- No account, no email, no cookies. Uploads are deleted the moment a conversion finishes; results are deleted within an hour, and a Delete everything now button wipes immediately.
- Free within fair-use caps: files up to 1 GB, 3 conversions per hour and 10 per day.
The converter is a standalone public tool, it is not connected to your OrbGIS organization or its data. To bring converted data into OrbGIS, download the result and upload it to your portal.