Extract text from ArcGIS map content files (NMC)
To convert NMC map files to another format, you need ArcGIS Explorer or other GIS software.
To convert other file formats to the "Map Content File" file type, you need software like ArcGIS Explorer or a similar tool.
The .NMC file is an ArcGIS Explorer Map Content file developed by ESRI. It stores spatial data references, map layers, symbology, and 2D/3D visualizations used specifically within ArcGIS Explorer. These files are typically used by GIS professionals to package and share specific map views and geospatial project configurations.
The main disadvantage of the .NMC format is that it is highly proprietary and tied to legacy desktop software. It requires the original ESRI software, which is a large, resource-heavy installation that often requires a commercial license. You cannot open these files natively in web browsers, and popular open-source GIS tools like QGIS often fail to parse the proprietary internal structure. Additionally, if the file relies on external server connections, the map will break entirely if those remote servers go offline.
Users typically need to convert .NMC files to standard spatial formats like KML (Keyhole Markup Language), KMZ, or SHP (Shapefile) for use in Google Earth or QGIS. Alternatively, exporting the map to a flat visual format like PDF or PNG is necessary for sharing visualizations with non-technical stakeholders who do not have specialized map software installed.
This file format is difficult to open or convert because standard online converters lack the proprietary spatial parsing libraries required to read ESRI's complex data structures. Often, only the original software can properly read or export the geometric data. Our system inspects the internal file structure - if the .NMC is built on an uncompressed XML format or acts as a container holding embedded text, we can extract the underlying data so you can recover important coordinate links or metadata.
Convert.Guru analyzes your NMC file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
If you want to convert NMC file to SHP, KML, KMZ, GPX, GEOJSON, TOPOJSON, TIF, TIFF, ECW, SID, IMG or DEM, you can use ArcGIS Explorer or similar software from the "GIS Map Content Storage" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert LAZ, KMZ, DTM, CSV, DEM, PRJ, LAS, GPX, DSM, SHP, DBF or KML files to NMC, try ArcGIS Explorer or another comparable tool in the "GIS Map Content Storage" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our NMC converter.