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GIS Data Uploads

Information on GIS formats, how to provide vector and raster geospatial data, what are the requirements on datasets and layers within.

Adam Anyszewski avatar
Written by Adam Anyszewski
Updated over a week ago

Uploading GIS Data to Optioneer

To upload GIS data to Optioneer please ensure it aligns with the requirements stated in this article.

Once you have ensured the data is appropriate to upload carry out the following steps:

  1. Expand ‘map controls’ from any pages within the map view

  2. Select ‘ADD DATASET’ option in the ‘Vector’ section for vector data upload OR ‘ADD DATASET’ option in the ‘Raster’ section for raster data.

  3. Select from 3 available options

    • Upload dataset

    • Import from library

    • Convert polygons

      Optioneer will let you know when your data upload is successful. Your data will not show on the map instantly, as it carries out some processing in the background first.

  4. Assigning your vector data to collections

    When uploading vector data, you will be asked to assign your layers to collections. By assigning a collection, we can divide layers into more convenient groupings for routing. These are then directly linked to your configuration.

    1. Assign each layer into one of the following collections based on how you want to use the layer and whether it’s a line or polygon:

      1. Linear - line data including roads, rivers and utilities

      2. Constraints - polygon data modelling constraints in the project area

      3. Environmental - polygon data modelling designations

      4. None - This data is for visualisation only, I do not want to report on it. This can be updated at a later time.

  5. Updating configurations

    1. You will be asked to Update Configuration. Select the configurations that you want to update with the latest layers and select Update. It may be the case that a configuration will not be required.

6. Apply penalties and constrains to the newly added layers.

Penalties are applied to constraints in Optioneer in the Parameter Window.

Types of data that Optioneer can work with:

  • Vector Data as constraints. This includes lines and polygons (Points need to be buffered for Optioneer to navigate them as a constraint)

    • Polygons:

      • buildings, functional sites or sites of special purpose - industrial, commercial, residential

      • environmentally designated sites such as forests, wetlands, protected habitats

      • urban areas, rural areas and land use types

      • geotechnical information and flooding areas limits

      • culturally designated areas and locations of special buildings

      • planning and zoning information

    • Lines:

      • existing infrastructure such as roads, railways and trails

      • watercourses and rivers

      • existing networks such as electricity, pipelines

      • administrative boundaries

  • Raster datasets

  • Project Features: points, lines and polygons

📔 Vector Data

Vector data includes:

  • Polygons:

    • buildings, functional sites or sites of special purpose - industrial, commercial, residential

    • environmentally designated sites such as forests, wetlands, protected habitats

    • urban areas, rural areas and land use types

    • geotechnical information and flooding areas limits

    • culturally designated areas and locations of special buildings

    • planning and zoning information

  • Lines:

    • existing infrastructure such as roads, railways and trails

    • watercourses and rivers

    • existing networks such as electricity, pipelines

    • administrative boundaries

🗄 Filetypes and conventions

Filetypes accepted by Optioneer are:

  • ✅ GeoJSON (.geojson) → popular open source format

  • ✅ Shapefile (.shp) → ESRI ArcGIS format, often supplied as a compressed folder (.zip) with other files

  • ✅ GeoPackage (.gkpg) → popular open source format

  • ✅ Keyhole Markup Language KML (.kml ) → popular open source format used in Google Earth. Note we do not currently support .kmz's.

Common filetypes not served by Optioneer:

  • ❌ GeoDatabase (.gdb) → unfortunately, this format is not currently served by Optioneer

⚙️ Technical recommendations and limits

For all datasets:

  • ensure no corrupt data entries (like NaN) are present

  • inspect visually if the data is aligned correctly with source data

  • merge sources into a single file for the entire project area i.e. we prefer 30 large coverage files with one layer each than more smaller coverage files with 30 layers each

  • where possible, provide values in SI units

  • do NOT use special characters in file name or layer names

  • verify that your file can be opened without warnings with open source software like QGIS (version 3+)

  • provide the data in WGS84, rather than local systems

  • minimise the amount of metadata attached to features / layers, focus on geometries and types

  • please avoid using file formats specific to a software provider and use open-source formats instead

  • if more than 24 layers are present, please split the file into smaller files by common type. For example, split linear features into roads, rivers & streams, utilities files, rather than alphabetically or by feature count

💯 Limitations

  • up to 1,000,000 features per layer

  • up to 1GB per dataset file size

  • up to 63 layers per dataset

  • no mixed geometries, each dataset has to be uploaded as a lines-only or polygons-only dataset


📔 Raster Data

  • This can represent the following:

    • Elevation / bathymetry

      This data shows the elevation at any given point, usually represented as a grid of fixed resolution, such as 5 or 1 arc-second (circa 30m). There is a global dataset based on NASA Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (source), with the baseline file supplied with every project in Optioneer.

    • Slope

      This data is derived from the elevation data and allows to understand how steep the gradient of the terrain is at any given point, represented in [degrees].

    • Population density

      This data shows how many people are likely to live in a given area, usually represented a value per km2.

    • Visual sensitivity

      This is a proprietary type of data generated by Continuum Industries, based on the terrain formation, locations of buildings, tourist attractions and vantage points. More detail can be found in the article below.

    • Sensitivity map

      This is a proprietary type of data generated by Continuum Industries, based off weighted risk due to constraints; normally, it comes with considerations of technical risks, permitting risks and risks to biodiversity. More detail can be found in the articles below.

    • Basemap

      This is simply an image of a map that can be uploaded to Optioneer in case the basemap used by the software is not sufficient. Available base maps can be reviewed here (provided by MapBox).

🗄 Filetypes and conventions

Filetypes served by Optioneer are:

  • ✅ GeoTIFF (.geotiff, .tif, .tiff) → popular open source format

Common filetypes not served by Optioneer:

  • ❌ netCDF / asci (.asc / .ascii) / ESRI Grid

When providing elevation or bathymetry files, please ensure that positive values indicate ‘above sea level’ while negative values indicate ‘below sea level’.

⚙️ Technical recommendations and limits

For all datasets:

  • ensure no corrupt data entries (like NaN) are present

  • inspect visually if the data is aligned correctly with source data

  • merge sources into a single file for the entire project area i.e. we prefer 30 large coverage files with one layer each than more smaller coverage files with 30 layers each

  • where possible, provide values in SI units

  • do NOT use special characters in file name or layer names

  • use WGS84 (lat/longs) where possible

  • if possible, verify that your file can be opened without warnings with open source software like QGIS (version 3+)

  • minimise the amount of metadata attached to features / layers, focus on geometries and types

  • please avoid using file formats specific to a software provider and use open-source formats instead

  • raster conventions:

    • provide average value when downsampling

    • ensure that the no-data value is set! ‼️

    • no skew

    • suggested data type is float

💯 Limitations

  • up to 1GB per dataset file size


👃 Project features - points, lines and polygons

These features are different to general geospatial data and are uploaded as project features rather than data layers that can be used as constraints. Although, these can be converted to constraints later.

These features can be uploaded as .geojson and can contain individual or multiple features. In order to upload points/lines or polygons in .geojson format, and ensure your file complies with the following.

  1. Field names are as follows,

    1. "name" : This will provide the input to the name of the point/line

    2. "description" : This will provide the input the to description of the point/line

  2. The file is in WGS84 Projection (EPSG:4326).

  3. Ensure multipart are converted to singleparts

  4. The file is in .geojson format.

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