Problem with projection in layer

Question

I'm having problems with visualizing a layer which is in EPSG:4326

Apparently the geometry looks perfect, but I don't know why, it's not in real coordinates.

I have projected it to 4326 with QGIS, re-projected with ogr2ogr, and the result is always the same, the coordinates shown in the box while I pass the mouse are not real.

SRC of the project is in 4326, and 'on the fly' is set to on.

Any idea what could be happening? I attatch the europe roads layer, if anybody wants to open it and check for some issues.

Thanks a lot!

Shapefile: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/64621273/roads.rar

Answer 1

The first archive ("Roads Data - tables and layers") doesn't contain the projection information, which is pretty bad form. However, the second archive ("Roads ArcReader Projects") has the projection information in its .prj files:

PROJCS["Clarke_1866_Polyconic",GEOGCS["GCS_Clarke_1866",DATUM["D_Clarke_1866",SPHEROID["Clarke_1866",6378206.4,294.9786982]],PRIMEM["Greenwich",0.0],UNIT["Degree",0.0174532925199433]],PROJECTION["Polyconic"],PARAMETER["False_Easting",0.0],PARAMETER["False_Northing",-2222408.5],PARAMETER["Central_Meridian",10.0],PARAMETER["Latitude_Of_Origin",33.0],UNIT["Meter",1.0]]

To fix your data, you can either create a text file called redfinal3.prj in the same directory as your .shp file and copy the code text from above into that file, or you can create a new custom CRS in QGIS with the following proj4 string:

+proj=poly +lat_0=33 +lon_0=10 +x_0=0 +y_0=-2222408.5 +ellps=clrk66 +units=m +no_defs