Editing DBFs on a Mac OSX
by KUMIKO YAMAZAKI on August 21, 2008 • apps: dbf open office • COMMENTFree open source GIS applications are often excellent viewers, but have only limited capabilities when editing data. For example, merging and analyzing multiple datasets are basic functionalities to GIS, yet, many do not support such features.
A common workaround is to dive directly into the database (the .dbf file) and edit it using a spreadsheet application. Excel can easily handle this but Excel is not free, and this website? It’s all about FREE.. unless I say otherwise. And be warned, I found out last night that Excel 2007 can no longer save as .dbf files.
So when expensive proprietary software can’t get the job done, turn to Open Office. From here, you can merge/copy/add data to your existing table and create your final database.
The next step is to inform Open Office which cells need to be saved. Highlight only the cells you need and go to Insert -> Names -> Define. Call it Database and hit OK.
Save as a .dbf file and write over the previous version. If everything was done correctly, the newly edited attribute table should be available for your geowebbing pleasure. I skipped through some steps so please don’t hesitate to ask questions!
