from mapscript import mapObj,layerObj wkt = '''PROJCS["Lambert Conformal Conic",GEOGCS["GCS_WGS_1984",DATUM["D_WGS_1984",SPHEROID["WGS_1984",6378137.0,298.257223563]],PRIMEM["Greenwich",0.0],UNIT["Degree",0.0174532925199433]],PROJECTION["Lambert_Conformal_Conic"],PARAMETER["False_Easting",4000000.0],PARAMETER["False_Northing",4000000.0],PARAMETER["Central_Meridian",80.0],PARAMETER["Standard_Parallel_1",35.17280444444446],PARAMETER["Standard_Parallel_2",12.472955],PARAMETER["Latitude_Of_Origin",24.0],UNIT["Meter",1.0]]''' m = mapObj('') m.setWKTProjection(wkt) lyr = layerObj(m) lyr.setWKTProjection(wkt)