Converting a kmz file into shapefile format in R

ogr does not recognize the .kml file unzipped from the .kmz file :o(

$unzip infile.kmz
Archive: infile.kmz
inflating: doc.kml
$ ogrinfo doc.kml
FAILURE:
Unable to open datasource `gocek_revised_20090604_AC.kml' with the following drivers.
...
-> KML
...

so I use gpsbabel to convert the .kml file into gpx format :

gpsbabel -i kml -f doc.kml -o gpx -F doc.gpx

I then load the gpx file into Quantum GIS using the GPS plugin. Then I output the loaded layer into shapefile.

I am sure smarter ways to achieve this exist but that's what I could come up with this fast using OpenSource tools.

vive l'OpenSource!

Changing the projection of a spatial data using ogr2ogr and gdalwarp

Changing the projection of a shapefile using ogr2ogr :

Download and install ogr/gdal (yes, it's free).

To create output.shp with the WGS84 (4326) projection, use the following syntax :

ogr2ogr output.shp -t_srs "EPSG:4326" input.shp

To simply extract Features 1,2,3 and export into GML :

ogr2ogr output.gml input.tab -f "GML" -where "fid in (1,2,3)"


Similarly, use gdalwarp for raster data :

gdalwarp -t_srs 'EPSG:4326' input.tif output.tif

voilà