Error when opening shapefile

Question

I am trying to open a shapefile in R, but I am getting the following error message:

Error in getinfo.shape(filen) : Error opening SHP file

I have checked other responses and most problems seem to have been solved by ensuring that the .dbf and .shx files are in the same folder. I have them all in the same folder (along with some other extensions too) but I still get the error message. I work on a mac. This is my code:

getinfo.shape("/Users/Suz/Desktop/DWH satellite maps/20100517_Composite.shp")

I have tried it without the .shp extension, and with other commands, such as readShapePoints etc. Nothing has worked so far. Please help, I am new to R and making maps, and after extensive Googling and forum-reading I am still stuck.

Solution

I just had the same problem. Often come other files with your SHP-file. If they are missing the file cant be loaded.

So search if there are any other file ext. with "20100517_Composite" at the source you got your file.

Cant comment yet but i wanted the ppl to save time, if this is the problem.

Comments

[user3281487]

The list.files command gives all the files in the directory (which there are 174 of) so the whole output is huge to post. But my files are there.

[jbaums]

Good to hear. If you can work out what you were doing wrong, please add your solution as an answer and accept it for the benefit of future generations.