Importing arbitrary files

Perhaps a short tutorial on how to import different filetypes - e.g. .shp shape files or .dem digital elevation models (i.e. terrain, the kind used in arcGIS, or even different kinds of surface models such as lidar models of forest canopies or of building facades, and then we can use these shapes as the basis for projecting within p5/processing), and video files, vector graphics etc. so that we can them play with them in p5/processing?