In [41]: sf = shapefile.Reader('data/org/all_japan_d_a.shp', encoding='shift-jis') In [39]: sf.bbox Out[39]: [122.9346441888549, 20.422749098764836, 153.98726580717585, 45.557702208072534] In [40]: sf.fields Out[40]: [('DeletionFlag', 'C', 1, 0), [u'detailed_n', u'N', 4, 0], [u'basic_no', u'N', 3, 0], [u'color', u'C', 13, 0], [u'r', u'N', 3, 0], [u'g', u'N', 3, 0], [u'b', u'N', 3, 0], [u'code', u'C', 19, 0], [u'legend_ja', u'C', 105, 0], [u'legend_en', u'C', 203, 0], [u'expl_ja', u'C', 111, 0], [u'age_ja', u'C', 27, 0], [u'age_en', u'C', 79, 0], [u'litho_ja', u'C', 47, 0], [u'litho_en', u'C', 89, 0], [u'styleidx', u'N', 8, 0]] In [61]: sf.shapeType Out[61]: 5 In [43]: shapes = sf.shapes() In [44]: records = sf.records()