ArcGIS  Tags: arcgis gis maps mapping data  

A thorough discussion of various formats that ArcGIS can read may be found in the online help. From the Help menu, choose ArcGIS Desktop Help..., then under the Contents tab choose "Data types supported in ArcGIS" from the Contents. Some common types of files are listed below.

Shapefiles:  The native ArcView 3.x format, these have the filename extension .shp. When you open one of these layers, it also uses several auxiliary files that are in the same folder as the .shp file (e.g., all related files are needed for the shapefile to open).  Probably the most common ArcGIS files freely available, and easy to work with.

Layer Files (.lyr extension):  Not a format that stores data, but used within ArcGIS 8.x and higher to store references (e.g., full path) to actual data (e.g., Shapefiles) and also to store how the data is displayed, associations, etc.

Coverages: ArcView will also read coverages in ARC/Info format, the full-feature GIS software package also manufactured by ESRI (now also called ArcGIS Workstation).  Each coverage is stored in its own unique folder. The folder's name is the name of the coverage; the files within each folder have standard names (arc, arx, pat, dbx, etc.).

ARC/Info Interchange (Export) Format: This format, whose extension is usually .e00, will need to be translated into ARC/Info coverages.  In version 9.x, access the the conversion utility by opening ArcCatalog and from the View menu add the "ArcView 8x Tools" toolbar.  This also provides access to utilities to convert from MapInfo or SDTS (Spatial Data Transfer Standard) files, among others.

Raster Image Formats: ArcGIS can open selected registered raster-scanned formats, such as certain JPEG files or the GeoTIFF format. Even if an image is not registered, they can be manually registered so you can overlay other layers.  See documentation or the University of Michigan's help guide.

ArcView Version 1 Views:  "Views" from ArcView 1.0  (filename extension .av) format can be opened by choosing Project ... Import in ArcView 3.0 (project window active).