1.4. GeoPackage

Traditionally, a GIS data file can contain only a single type of geographic entities representations such as points, lines, or polygons for vector data, and bands for raster data. This kind of collection is often referred to as a layer in GIS. Nevertheless, some special GIS file formats allow storing also groups of heterogeneous layers, either vector or raster, into a single file. The GeoPackage data format (file name extension .gpkg) is the current most popular and innovative solution allowing the storage of layers groups into a single and compact computer file.

The GeoPackage is an open and platform-independent data format standard promoted and adopted by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). The GeoPackage functions as a container of multiple spatial layers which can be read, modified and shared across different GIS applications. A GeoPackage can fit all data needed for a complex mapping project and it is structured like a relational database file, containing both spatial data (coordinates, attributes, CRS) and metadata (ancillary information on the data resources, creators, quality, visualization styles, etc.).