I found spatialite more useful than shapefiles as it does not have the limitations of shapefile and it is also portable. Many people here use shapefiles to exchange data and even the experts do not know about this new format.
What are the advantages of using spatialite over shapefiles?
Can it be used instead of shapefile?
Please focus only on those formats which are portable, i.e. can be exchanged using USB sticks. GML, GeoJSON, KML, CSV are not an option and they are not directly editable in GIS.
UPDATE: It has been more than 5 years and the new development is directed towards geopackage which is related to spatialite.
So now question is more like Advantages of using GEOPACKAGE over GEODATABASE?
Answer
Shapefiles are the lowest common denominator of GIS vector data file exchange: send an archive of shapefiles, and you can pretty much guarantee that someone will be able to build a basic GIS from it.
SpatiaLite's advantages include:
- everything's in one file; none of the shp/shx/dbf/idx/prj per layer mess.
- logic as well as data can be included, in the form of VIEWs and TRIGGERs.
- built-in spatial indices, which allow rapid searches of large areas.
- they are real (if slightly limited, mostly in multi-user access) database systems, with no database admin skills required.
But there are some disadvantages:
- not everyone can use them.
- they are still mostly limited to geometries built from nodes and straight lines; if you need splines and surfaces, look elsewhere.
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