readOGR() cannot open file

Question

wmap <- readOGR(dsn="~/R/funwithR/data/ne_110m_land", layer="ne_110m_land")

This code is not loading the shape file and error is generated as

Error in ogrInfo(dsn = dsn, layer = layer, encoding = encoding, use_iconv = use_iconv,  : 
Cannot open file

I am sure that the directory is correct one. At the end / is also not there and layer name is also correct.

Inside the ne_110m_land directory files I have are:

ne_110m_land.dbf
ne_110m_land.prj
ne_110m_land.shp
ne_110m_land.shx
ne_110m_land.VERSION.txt
ne_110m_land.README.html

Robert Hijmans · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-21T18:36:28.323

57

You could have shown that you have the right path with:

list.files('~/R/funwithR/data/ne_110m_land', pattern='\\.shp$')
file.exists('~/R/funwithR/data/ne_110m_land/ne_110m_land.shp')

perhaps try:

readOGR(dsn=path.expand("~/R/funwithR/data/ne_110m_land"), layer="ne_110m_land")

or a simpler alternative that is wrapped around that:

library(raster)
s <- shapefile("~/R/funwithR/data/ne_110m_land/ne_110m_land.shp")

edited Apr 21 '16 at 18:36

answered May 31 '15 at 19:53

Robert Hijmans

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thanks! path.expand() worked. Sorry that I can't vote up the answer. – Ritesh Jung Thapa May 31 '15 at 19:59
@RiteshJungThapa you can accept this as the correct answer (even if you can't upvote) – geneorama Jan 08 '16 at 18:52
Why is the code posted in the question not working? I have the same issue but multiple files with same name and different extension in the folder, thus `path.expand` won't work. – Dambo Apr 21 '16 at 23:58
It does not work because readOGR does not use `path.expand` because it does not know if the first argument actually is a file path (it could be a database). There is no reason why this should not work for you. – Robert Hijmans Apr 22 '16 at 16:11
In my case the codes above work only if I add the absolute path . with relative path the same error occurs – JessicaRjes Mar 09 '20 at 14:40

score 8 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 07 '18 at 01:37

For me, the command returned the Cannot open layer error when I included the dsn and layer tags.

So when I included it all just as readOGR('~/R/funwithR/data/ne_110m_land/ne_110m_land.shp') it worked.

Note that my file was a gjson, so I've only seen this with readOGR('~/R/funwithR/data/ne_110m_land/ne_110m_land.gjson')

score 7 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 24 '19 at 08:12

7

I had the same error. To read in a shapefile, you need to have three files in your folder: the .shp, .dbf and .shx files.

answered Oct 24 '19 at 08:12

E. Vr

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score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 24 '19 at 04:55

Here's what worked for me (with a real example)

require(rgdal)
shape <- readOGR(dsn = "1259030001_ste11aaust_shape/STE11aAust.shp", layer = "STE11aAust")

The exact data is available here (download the .zip file called 'State and Territory ASGC Ed 2011 Digital Boundaries in MapInfo Interchange Format')

score 1 · Answer 5 · edited Aug 06 '20 at 13:55

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the syntax: library(raster) s <- shapefile("~/R/funwithR/data/ne_110m_land/ne_110m_land.shp") worked perfectly! todah rabah!

edited Aug 06 '20 at 13:55

con

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answered Aug 06 '20 at 12:45

Álon Alhevi

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score 0 · Answer 6 · answered May 31 '19 at 15:53

0

As I commented in other post (Error when opening shapefile), using file.choose() and selecting manually will help in the case one file selection is needed. Apparently is related with NaturalEarth shapefiles

answered May 31 '19 at 15:53

Kita Romero-Álvarez

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score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Dec 08 '20 at 17:06

it seems to me that this is the solution, at least before uploading it to the cloud

  ######################################
  #             Server
  ######################################
  #I tell R where to extract the data from
  #Le digo al R donde debe jalar la data

  dirmapas <- "E:/Tu-carpeta/Tu-sub-carpeta/ESRI" #Depende donde tengas tú tus 
                                                  #archivos de cartografía 

  setwd(dirmapas)

  #The raw map
  # El mapa de polígonos en blanco y negro
  departamentos<-readOGR(dsn="BAS_LIM_DEPARTAMENTO.shp", layer="BAS_LIM_DEPARTAMENTO")

readOGR() cannot open file

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