Convert Shapefile to KML
The way into Google Earth: upload your Shapefile as a ZIP, pick which column labels the placemarks, download a KML. Whatever coordinate system the data is in — the conversion reprojects to WGS 84, because KML accepts nothing else.
Upload one ZIP containing .shp, .shx, .dbf and .prj — not the .shp file by itself. If .prj is missing, GeoVerto requires the source EPSG code before conversion.
The name field decides how usable the result is
This is the one choice that matters most in practice. In Google Earth's sidebar every placemark carries a name, and this converter lets you pick which attribute column provides it. Columns called name or description are preselected when present. Skip the choice and you get hundreds of identically labelled entries — technically correct and practically useless. Compatible remaining columns are written as ExtendedData and appear in the balloon when a placemark is clicked. KML stores those values as text, so review any fields that rely on database types.
Why the ZIP, and why the .prj matters
A Shapefile is not one file but a bundle: .shp holds the geometry, .shx the index, .dbf the attributes and .prj the coordinate system. Upload them together as one ZIP. If the .prj is missing, the analysis flags low confidence instead of guessing — a guessed coordinate system does not fail loudly, it produces placemarks that look plausible and sit hundreds of kilometres away.
Reprojection is not optional here
KML stores coordinates exclusively in WGS 84 (EPSG:4326). If your Shapefile lives in a projected system — UTM, a national grid — the coordinates are transformed during conversion. That is suitable for typical Google Earth display, but coordinate transformation and output precision can introduce small numerical differences. It also means the .prj has to be right: reprojection from a wrongly labelled system moves everything, silently.
What KML does not keep
- Attribute types: everything in ExtendedData is text. Values survive, typed sorting does not.
- Multi-layer structure — a KML document holds the features of the uploaded layer.
- Very large files become slow in Google Earth: KML is uncompressed text. From a few thousand features, KMZ is often the calmer choice — the same KML content in compressed packaging. The size reduction depends on the data.
Related conversions
- Convert Shapefile to KMZ
- Convert KML to Shapefile — the other direction
- Convert Shapefile to GeoJSON