How to get “.GDB” Esri File Geodatabase in QGIS for MAC OSX 10.6?

Question

I understand there are programs like OSGeo4W that allow windows users to work with File Geodatabases, but is there something similar for Mac OSX?

Answer 1

From your problem description, it seems ok to just get the data out somehow.

Try GDB Flee, an online tool to convert GDBs into open formats.

Answer 2

I finally got file geodatabases working on QGIS for Mac. Using the instructions on the readme file of Kyngchaos FileGDB plugin:

download and install FileGDB plugin from http://www.kyngchaos.com/software/frameworks#gdal_complete

download and unzip fileGDB API from resources.arcgis.com/content/geodatabases/10.0/file-gdb-api

Move the 2 .dylib files from the lib folder of the fileGDB API to the folder /Library/Application Support/GDAL/1.9/Libraries

start QGIS, add vector layer, select the source type as directory and ESRI FileGDB should appear right away.

Answer 3

OSGeo4W is, well, OSGeo "for Windows", so it is not what you are looking for.

I have not done it myself, but other people have, so I know it works.

I would recommend you

1. get the KyngChaos binaries for QGIS
2. compile the OGR FileGDB driver (which will produce a "dylib" file on the Mac)
3. drop the dylib on the plugins directory of GDAL on the Mac. I believe this directory is /Library/Application Support/GDAL/PlugIns/$(GDALVER) according to the Kyngchaos documentation (very last line).

For #2, you will need to download the exact version of GDAL that is used by the Kyngchaos build you have. Instructions on how to create the dylib for filegdb can be found on the net.

I realize this is not for the faint of heart, it would be nice if somebody created a brew recipe for this. hint hint, anyone?

Update

There is a much easier way now using Homebrew:

1. Install Homebrew

2. Go to the ESRI site and download the FileGDB API for Mac. After extracting, you will notice that there is a lib folder and an include folder.

3. Copy the contents of the include folder to /usr/local/include and the lib folder to /usr/local/lib (this is basically "installing" the FileGDB API in your system)

4. Install gdal using brew (pass the enable-unsupported flag).

   brew install gdal --enable-unsupported

That's it!

Optionally, if you want QGIS, install it using this Homebrew Science recipe.

Answer 4

First, you'll have to compile GDAL with ESRI FileGDB support. Once you've done that, you can then use this build of GDAL in a KyngChaos build of QGIS. On your terminal:

# save your current GDAL so you can put it back if you want
cp /Library/Frameworks/GDAL.framework/Versions/1.8/GDAL /Library/Frameworks/GDAL.framework/Versions/1.8/GDAL_orig

# symlink the custom GDAL build to the place QGIS looks
rm /Library/Frameworks/GDAL.framework/Versions/1.8/GDAL
ln -s ~/local/lib/libgdal.dylib /Library/Frameworks/GDAL.framework/Versions/1.8/GDAL

Thanks to @Ragi for the instructions to the Github gist.

Answer 5

.gdb is the proprietary format for ESRI's geodatabases. For more information on how to access gdb look here

How to get ".GDB" (Esri File Geodatabase) support in Quantum GIS (osgeo4w - qgis)

Answer 6

OSGeo4W reads GDBs using GDAL/OGR which you can install on OS X via Macports or Kygchaos's binary distribution.