Extract text from geospatial data files (SOS)
To convert SOS data files to another format, you need ArcGIS or other GIS software.
To convert other file formats to the "Geospatial Data File" file type, you need software like ArcGIS or a similar tool.
The .SOS file extension primarily represents a SOSI (Samordnet Opplegg for Stedfestet Informasjon) format. This is the national standard for geographical data exchange in Norway. You will encounter these files when downloading cadastral, topographic, or municipal mapping data from the Norwegian Mapping Authority (Kartverket). A smaller percentage of .SOS files are text playlists used by the NOAA Science On a Sphere system, or legacy database files for the Switched-On Schoolhouse homeschool software.
To open a geospatial .SOS file, mapping professionals typically use ArcGIS or QGIS equipped with specific Norwegian plugins, or the official SOSI-konverter desktop tool.
The main disadvantage of the .SOS format is its extreme regional localization. Because it is highly specific to Norway, mainstream international GIS software usually rejects it natively. Users constantly face the problem of translating these files into globally accepted spatial formats. You need to convert .SOS to GeoJSON, SHP, or KML to use the data in modern web mapping applications or standard databases. During this conversion, you must pay strict attention to local coordinate reference systems to avoid shifting or losing spatial accuracy.
This format is specialized and notoriously difficult to process without dedicated localized software. Standard online converters fail because they lack the complex, region-specific schema libraries required to parse Norwegian cartographic rules. Often, only the original Kartverket tools can accurately export the geometry. Since many .SOS files use UTF-8 text encoding, our platform can safely inspect the file and show the raw coordinate text or internal content, giving you a pragmatic workaround to extract data even when full spatial conversion requires native desktop software.
Convert.Guru analyzes your SOS file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted JPEG, PD, SOR, JPG, SD, MAPX and 3DD files.
If you want to convert SOS file to SYS, DLL, EXE, DRV, VXD, 386, COM, BAT, CMD, SCR, PIF or LNK, you can use ArcGIS or similar software from the "Geospatial Data Exchange" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert MSI, EXE, REG, MST, LNK, CAB, CAT, DRV, INF, SYS, MSU or DLL files to SOS, try ArcGIS or another comparable tool in the "Geospatial Data Exchange" 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 SOS converter.