python_shp

>>> import struct
>>> fichier='testpoly.shp'
>>> f = open(fichier,'rb')
>>> shpread = f.read(100) #lecture des 100 premiers bytes 
>>> shptype = struct.unpack('<l',shpread[32:36]) #type de shape
>>> print shptype[0]
5 # 5 = polygone, voir tableau de correspondance dans Wikipedia
>>> box = struct.unpack('<dddd',shpread[36:68]) # cadre global du shapefile
>>> print box
(-0.009020000000000002, -0.0050160000000000005, 0.0055000000000000014, 0.007392000000000001)