# GeoTables: "UndefVarError: \`load\` not defined" but can load with GeoIO

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/geotables-undefvarerror-load-not-defined-but-can-load-with-geoio/105221>\
**Category:** Geo\
**Created:** [October 20, 2023, 8:08am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/geotables-undefvarerror-load-not-defined-but-can-load-with-geoio/105221 "2023-10-20T08:08:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Funsway](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/funsway/32/202625_2.png) [@Funsway](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Funsway)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 8:08am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/geotables-undefvarerror-load-not-defined-but-can-load-with-geoio/105221/1 "2023-10-20T08:08:59Z")

</div>

Hi all,

I am new to Julia and is working on a project that uses the GeoTables packages.  
However, it gave me the “UndefVarError: `load` not defined” when GeoTables.load(“xxx.shp”), but, if I do, GeoIO.load(“xxx.shp”), it successfully loaded.

julia\> GeoTables.load(“xxx.shp”)  
ERROR: UndefVarError: `load` not defined  
Stacktrace:  
[1] getproperty(x::Module, f::Symbol)  
@ Base ./Base.jl:31  
[2] top-level scope  
@ REPL[26]:1

Does anyone have an idea why my GeoTables cannot find the “load” method?

I am using conda environment to install Julia and the following are the versions:  
julia version 1.9.3  
“GeoTables” =\> v"1.9.0"  
“GeoIO” =\> v"1.2.0"

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nilshg](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/nilshg/32/2283_2.png) [@nilshg](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/nilshg)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 8:45am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/geotables-undefvarerror-load-not-defined-but-can-load-with-geoio/105221/2 "2023-10-20T08:45:29Z")

</div>

Why do you think `GeoTables` should have a `load` method? Are there any docs mentioning this? I don’t really know the ecosystem (@juliohm will probably chime in with a better answer), but as far as I can tell `GeoTables` is a package to work with geo data in a Tables.jl compatible manner, not one for reading/writing data (which is probably what `GeoIO` is for)?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![juliohm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/juliohm/32/215266_2.png) [@juliohm](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/juliohm)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 9:41am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/geotables-undefvarerror-load-not-defined-but-can-load-with-geoio/105221/3 "2023-10-20T09:41:42Z")

</div>

Thank you Nils for helping. We refactored the entire software stack recently and moved functions to their correct modules. GeoIO.jl is the module for loading and saving geotables from disk.

Please check the “Geospatial Data Science with Julia” book for more information on how the project is structured nowadays:

[https://juliaearth.github.io/geospatial-data-science-with-julia](https://juliaearth.github.io/geospatial-data-science-with-julia)

Chapter 3.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![juliohm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/juliohm/32/215266_2.png) [@juliohm](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/juliohm)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 11:19am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/geotables-undefvarerror-load-not-defined-but-can-load-with-geoio/105221/4 "2023-10-20T11:19:23Z")

</div>

> [@Funsway](#):
>
> I am using conda environment to install Julia and the following are the versions:  
> julia version 1.9.3  
> “GeoTables” =\> v"1.9.0"  
> “GeoIO” =\> v"1.2.0"

@Funsway can you share more details about your setup? You are using Julia just for the GeoStats.jl features?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Funsway](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/funsway/32/202625_2.png) [@Funsway](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Funsway)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 12:27am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/geotables-undefvarerror-load-not-defined-but-can-load-with-geoio/105221/5 "2023-10-23T00:27:07Z")

</div>

Hi @juliohm and @nilshg ,

Thank you for the information. I was running my ex-colleague’s code and he used the GeoTables.load() in our previous model.

I am using Julia just with the GeoTables feature for the .dbf dataset.