Split a shapefile into multiple shapefiles based on a particular Field

Question

I have a shapefile where there are 3 fields OBJECTID, NAME , LOCALITY. I want to create new shapefile that contains the geometry, projection etc. of the parent shapefile and according to the locality;

OBJECTID    NAME    LOCALITY
1    JOHN    UK
2    ANITA   USA
3    CAL     USA
4    DAVE    UK

This shapefile is read and two seperate shape files are created with the properties
of the parent shape files

OBJECTID    NAME    LOCALITY
1    JOHN    UK
2    DAVE    UK
OBJECTID    NAME    LOCALITY
1    ANITA   USA
2    CAL     USA

Please guide me how to do it. I am new to Python

Answer 1

Here's a tutorial showing you how to do exactly what you're looking for. Before you start you'll need to install the gdal/ogr bindings for Python. Information for that can be found here:

http://pypi.python.org/pypi/GDAL/

Here's a question from here on how to install the bindings:

Installing GDAL and OGR for Python?

And here's the tutorial:

http://cosmicproject.org/OGR/cris_example_write.html

Answer 2

If you have ArcGIS at your disposal and do not want to write anything from scratch, there is already a tool available for that (if I got you right, you want to "split" the shapefile by a certain attribute).

You could also build a model:

Or check another GIS Stackexchange thread.