How to open a .SBN file online
From file to map in seconds.
Open your .SBN file
Drag it onto the box or click to choose it from your device. It opens on your computer.
See it on the map
Points, lines and areas from your .SBN file appear on an interactive map. Click any feature to read its details.
Read the stats
Check distance, elevation gain and loss, the bounding box and a height profile linked to the map.
What is a .SBN file?
The common language of GPS devices.
An SBN file is a binary spatial index automatically generated by Esri ArcGIS to speed up spatial queries on a Shapefile dataset. You do not open SBN files directly; ArcGIS uses them in the background. If the file is missing, ArcGIS rebuilds it automatically.
Programs that open .SBN files
| Full name | Esri Shapefile Spatial Index (Binary) |
|---|---|
| Developer | Esri (Environmental Systems Research Institute) |
| First released | early 1990s (with the Esri Shapefile format, ArcView era) |
| Category | Maps & GIS |
| MIME type | application/octet-stream |
Related viewers
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Is my .SBN file uploaded anywhere?
No. Your .SBN file is read by your browser and never sent to us. Only the background map tiles are loaded from OpenStreetMap, which sees which map area you're looking at, not your data.
How is the elevation gain calculated?
We add up every climb between track points, ignoring tiny wiggles of less than 3 metres that come from GPS noise. That's close to what Strava and Garmin report; barometric devices may differ slightly.
How do I open a Shapefile?
A Shapefile is several files. Drop the whole .zip, or select the .shp, .dbf and .prj files together. With only the .shp you'll see the shapes but no attributes.
Can I convert GPX to KML or GeoJSON?
Use Export GeoJSON to save everything you see. GPX ↔ KML conversion is part of our upcoming converter.
My CSV has coordinates. Will it work?
Yes, if it has columns named like lat/latitude/y and lon/lng/longitude/x. Every row becomes a point with the other columns as properties.
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