Mapping toolbox: how to find the lenth unit of a shape file

How can I use the Matlab mapping toolbox to determine the length unit for a shape file? Which functions to use?

When using the "shapeinfo" function on the "boston_roads.shp" file, a data file wich is a part of the Mapping Toolbox distribution, I dont get any info on the length unit used in the shape file.

info = shapeinfo('boston_roads.shp')

So, how can I find the length unit used in a shape file?

[Adam Danz]

From the documentation,

shapeinfo cannot tell you which coordinate system the data in a shapefile uses. Coordinates can be either planar (x, y) or geographic (lat, lon) and have a variety of units. This information can be critical to the proper display of shapefile vector data. For more information on this topic, see Mapstructs and Geostructs

The link at the end leads you to a section that explains the geographical data structure. It suggests,

Coordinate Types. If you do not know whether a shapefile uses geographic coordinates or map coordinates, here are some things you can try:

I'll let you check that list out.

[Espen Donali]

Thanks for your attempt to answer my question, but as I wrote, the shapeinfo function dont give me any info on length unit. I have tried it in practice.

info = shapeinfo('boston_roads.shp')

info = struct with fields:

Filename: [3×67 char]

ShapeType: 'PolyLine'

BoundingBox: [2×2 double]

NumFeatures: 2795

Attributes: [5×1 struct]

none of theses struct fields contains info on the length unit used for the shape file data

[Adam Danz]

"Thanks for your attempt to answer my question, but as I wrote, the shapeinfo function dont give me any info on length unit. "

That's correct - it doesn't. The length unit is not part of the info output which is what I explained in my previous comment. Please see the documentation directly.

https://www.mathworks.com/help/map/ref/shapeinfo.html#d117e106120

And additional information:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/map/working-with-length-and-distance-units.html