from mapscript import mapObj,layerObj wkt = '''PROJCS["Dominica 1945 / British West Indies Grid",GEOGCS["Dominica 1945",DATUM["Dominica_1945",SPHEROID["Clarke 1880 (RGS)",6378249.145,293.465,AUTHORITY["EPSG","7012"]],TOWGS84[725,685,536,0,0,0,0],AUTHORITY["EPSG","6602"]],PRIMEM["Greenwich",0,AUTHORITY["EPSG","8901"]],UNIT["degree",0.01745329251994328,AUTHORITY["EPSG","9122"]],AUTHORITY["EPSG","4602"]],UNIT["metre",1,AUTHORITY["EPSG","9001"]],PROJECTION["Transverse_Mercator"],PARAMETER["latitude_of_origin",0],PARAMETER["central_meridian",-62],PARAMETER["scale_factor",0.9995],PARAMETER["false_easting",400000],PARAMETER["false_northing",0],AUTHORITY["EPSG","2002"],AXIS["Easting",EAST],AXIS["Northing",NORTH]]''' m = mapObj('') m.setWKTProjection(wkt) lyr = layerObj(m) lyr.setWKTProjection(wkt)