Quick definitions of the most important concepts
Feature
Individual GIS feature within a data layer.
Examples: building, woodland, river etc.
Data layer
Collection of features that can be treated in the same way.
Examples: listed buildings, woodlands, single-track railways etc.
Dataset
Collection of related data layers, relevant to a specific aspect of optioneering.
Examples: existing infrastructure, environmental constraints, geology etc.
Optioneer geodata flow
Geospatial data is present at almost every step of using Optioneer. We summarised the most important steps below - with more detail included in specific articles throughout our documentation.
Types of data Optioneer can work with
The list of data below is just a structured list of examples, to make some of the technical terms more intuitive.
Vector data:
polygons:
constraints (features we prefer to avoid):
environmental constraints
woodlands, protected areas, reserves
surface water, flood zones
protected landscapes
man-made constraints:
buildings, urban areas, industrial sites
historical features, protected areas
hazardous and contaminated sites
parcels:
land owners, administrative boundaries
non-constraints (features that influence the route):
geology
soil quality
seabed sediment (for offshore)
lines:
linear features (which need being crossed):
man-made:
roads
railways
channels
utilities - cables, pipelines, transmission lines
natural:
rivers
streams
points:
points-of-interest:
man-made:
protected monuments
wrecks, dredging locations, UXO dumping locations (for offshore)
special purpose buildings or cultivation
environmental:
environmental objects
Please note: Optioneer doesn't natively support points and assumes that points will be buffered into polygons and ingested appropriately.
Raster data:
topography / bathymetry:
Digital Elevation Model
Slope
density maps:
human:
shipping & navigation density
population density
environmental:
fisheries
What Optioneer can and can't do with the data
Optioneer can:
Detect if an option is going through a layer.
Applies to both polygons and linear features; the latter is used to detect crossings.
Crossings will show in Optioneer App as icons plotted along the route. They are present both on the map and on the Vertical Profile Chart.
Provide the distance a route goes through the layer for.
Length through various layers is summarised as an Option Metric and can be viewed in the 'Analyse' screen.
See multiple, overlapping layers at any point.
The Vertical Profile Chart contains a visual summary of layers crossed along the route.
Determine how far the route is from the nearest feature in a layer.
Every point along the route measures distance to features surrounding it.
Vertical Profile Chart contains a visual summary of distance to feature within all layers used.
More detail in 'distance to nearest' documentation article.
Optioneer can't:
Read any metadata of layers.
Optioneer only uses shapes of features, feature ID and name of a layer.
Act on layers which are not configured to be used in optioneering.
Simply put, if layers aren't configured, Optioneer treats them as neutral and largely ignores them.
These layer will still be visible in Optioneer app!
Detects route orientation with respect to geospatial features other than lines.
Optioneer can't know if it's going parallel to a woodland or perpendicular to a slope.
Lines are treated differently as they are critical for dealing with crossings. More detail in 'linear feature crossing' documentation article.
Understand what the layer actually is - it only relies on user input.
Optioneer is just a bit of smart AI algorithms and data analysis. Configuration from user is key.