from mapscript import mapObj,layerObj wkt = '''GEOGCS["GCS_Wake_Eniwetok_1960",DATUM["Wake_Eniwetok_1960",SPHEROID["Hough_1960",6378270,297]],PRIMEM["Greenwich",0],UNIT["Degree",0.017453292519943295],AUTHORITY["EPSG","37229"]]''' m = mapObj('') m.setWKTProjection(wkt) lyr = layerObj(m) lyr.setWKTProjection(wkt)