.GML File Extension
Geography Markup Language File
| Developer | Open Geospatial Consortium |
| Popularity |
3.8 | 15 Votes |
A GML file contains Geography Markup Language (GML), which is a language that includes XML-like tags defining geographic attributes and geometry coordinates. GML is an open, interchangeable format that geographers use to model geographical features, such as roads, lakes, and rivers, in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). GML files may also use the .xml file extension (.XML files).
More Information
Galdos Systems initially released GML in 2000, basing it on the Resource Description Framework (RDF). However, the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) soon took over the development of the format and introduced XML schemas (typically stored in .XSD files) to better connect the data in the many existing geographic databases.
Unfortunately, due to the varied use of GIS data (e.g., evaluating aviation weather, analyzing soil and terrain, vehicular navigation, etc.), different communities and organizations developed many incompatible schemas for defining GML files. Therefore, GML has diminished in favor of other, more interchangeable formats, such as .GEOJSON and .GPKG.
NOTE: You can find more information about GML on the Open Geospatial Consortium website (ogc.org).
How to open a GML file
You can open GML files with various GIS applications, including QGIS, TatukGIS Viewer, and Merkaartor. For example, to open a GML file with QGIS, click the icon in the toolbar, select the Browse (...) button in the Source section, choose the GML file, and click .
Since GML files store plain text, you can also open them with a text or source code editor, such as Microsoft Visual Studio Code, Microsoft Notepad or Apple TextEdit.