from mapscript import mapObj,layerObj wkt = '''PROJCS["unnamed",GEOGCS["NAD83",DATUM["North_American_Datum_1983",SPHEROID["GRS 1980",6378137,298.257222101,AUTHORITY["EPSG","7019"]],TOWGS84[0,0,0,0,0,0,0],AUTHORITY["EPSG","6269"]],PRIMEM["Greenwich",0,AUTHORITY["EPSG","8901"]],UNIT["degree",0.0174532925199433,AUTHORITY["EPSG","9108"]],AXIS["Lat",NORTH],AXIS["Long",EAST],AUTHORITY["EPSG","4269"]],PROJECTION["Albers_Conic_Equal_Area"],PARAMETER["standard_parallel_1",61.66666666667],PARAMETER["standard_parallel_2",68],PARAMETER["latitude_of_center",59],PARAMETER["longitude_of_center",-132.5],PARAMETER["false_easting",500000],PARAMETER["false_northing",500000],UNIT["Meter",1]]''' m = mapObj('') m.setWKTProjection(wkt) lyr = layerObj(m) lyr.setWKTProjection(wkt)