A comparison of vector datasets
Release 9.1 Last modified January 25, 2006

The following table compares the two types of vector datasets—shapefiles and geodatabases—you can edit in ArcMap.

	Geodatabase	Shapefile
Collections of datasets	A geodatabase is a collection of feature datasets.	A shapefile folder is a collection of shapefiles.
Datasets	A feature dataset is a collection of feature classes.	A shapefile has one shapefile feature class.
Collections of features	A feature class is a collection of features of the same type.	A shapefile feature class is a collection of shapefile features.
Features	Point, multipoint, polyline, polygon, annotation, dimension, and network.	Point, multipoint, line, and polygon.
Topologies	Geodatabase datasets may contain topologies or a geometric network.	Map topology may be used to integrate and edit shapefile feature classes.

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