geotable2table

R2026b

Convert geospatial table to table

Syntax

T = geotable2table(GT)

T = geotable2table(GT,varnames)

Description

T = geotable2table(GT) converts the geospatial table GT to a table. The function replaces the objects in the Shape variable of GT with well-known text (WKT) string representations of geometry. The geospatial table and the table have the same dimensions.

T = geotable2table(GT,varnames) replaces the Shape variable with variables that have names specified by varnames.

Examples

Convert Geospatial Table to Table

Convert a geospatial table to a table, then write the data to an Excel® spreadsheet file.

Import a shapefile containing the coordinates of world cities as a geospatial table.

GT = readgeotable("worldcities.shp");

Find the coordinate reference system type. The coordinate reference system type helps you determine appropriate variable names for the table.

GT.Shape.CoordinateSystemType

ans = 
"geographic"

Convert the geospatial table to a table. Replace the Shape variable with two variables containing coordinates by specifying the second argument as a two-element vector. The coordinate system is geographic, so use the variable names "Latitude" and "Longitude".

T = geotable2table(GT,["Latitude" "Longitude"]);

Write the table to an Excel spreadsheet file.

writetable(T,"worldcities.xlsx")

View WKT String Representations of Geometry

Import a shapefile containing a road network in Boston, MA, as a geospatial table. The Shape variable of the geospatial table contains maplineshape objects.

GT = readgeotable("boston_roads.shp");
class(GT.Shape)

ans = 
'maplineshape'

Convert the geospatial table to a table. The geotable2table function replaces the objects in the Shape variable with WKT string representations of geometry.

T = geotable2table(GT);

View the WKT string for the road called C STREET.

wkt = T.Shape(T.STREETNAME == "C STREET")

wkt = 
"LINESTRING (237527.171875 899661.1875,237343.875 899443.0625)"

Input Arguments

GT — Geospatial table

geospatial table

Geospatial table. A geospatial table is a table or timetable object with a Shape variable that contains geopointshape, geolineshape, geopolyshape, mappointshape, maplineshape, or mappolyshape objects. The Shape variable must be the first variable.

For more information about geospatial tables, see Create Geospatial Tables.

Data Types: table

varnames — Table variable names

string scalar | two-element vector of strings | three-element vector of strings

Table variable names used to replace the Shape variable of the geospatial table, specified as a string scalar, a two-element vector of strings, or a three-element vector of strings.

• String scalar — Replaces the shape objects in the Shape variable with WKT string representations of geometry. For example, "WKTStrings". Unlike shape objects, WKT string representations of geometry do not contain information about the coordinate reference system. This argument supports WKT string representations of 3-D points. (since R2026b)

• Two-element vector of strings — Replaces the Shape variable with two table variables that contain latitude-longitude or xy-coordinates. For example, ["Latitude","Longitude"].

• Three-element vector of strings — Replaces the Shape variable with three table variables containing latitude-longitude-height or xyz-coordinates. For example, ["Latitude","Longitude","Height"]. (since R2026b)

The geotable2table function does not project or unproject coordinates. For more information about projecting or unprojecting coordinates, see projfwd or projinv.

Data Types: string

Output Arguments

T — Output table

table object | timetable object

Output table, returned as a table or timetable object. The format of the output table depends on the format of the varnames input.

• When varnames is a string scalar, the output table contains WKT string representations of 2-D or 3-D geometry.

• When varnames is a two-element string vector, the output table contains latitude-longitude or xy-coordinates. If a table row represents an individual point, then the coordinates are returned as numeric scalars. Otherwise, the coordinates are returned as cell arrays of numeric vectors.

• When varnames is a three-element string vector, the output table contains latitude-longitude-height or xyz-coordinates. If a table row represents an individual point, then the coordinates are returned as numeric scalars. Otherwise, the coordinates are returned as cell arrays of numeric vectors. (since R2026b)

Version History

Introduced in R2021b

R2026b: Convert geospatial table of 3-D points to table

Convert geospatial tables containing 3-D point data to tables by specifying varnames as one of these options:

• The name of a table variable, when you want the output table to contain WKT string representations of 3-D points.

• The names of three table variables, when you want the output table to contain latitude-longitude-height coordinates or xyz-coordinates.