from mapscript import mapObj,layerObj wkt = '''PROJCS["Mollweide",GEOGCS["GCS_WGS_1984",DATUM["D_unknown",SPHEROID["WGS84",6378137,298.257223563]],PRIMEM["Greenwich",0],UNIT["Degree",0.017453292519943295]],PROJECTION["Mollweide"],PARAMETER["central_meridian",0],PARAMETER["false_easting",0],PARAMETER["false_northing",0],UNIT["Meter",1]]''' m = mapObj('') m.setWKTProjection(wkt) lyr = layerObj(m) lyr.setWKTProjection(wkt)