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Vector Data Sources

Table of contents

  1. Attributes

Vector data sources are used to access vector spatial data (points, lines, polygons, etc.). See the following sections for information on the various types of vector data sources that are supported.

Attributes

When configuring a vector spatial data source, you need to configure attributes for the data source. All available attributes are listed in a table. By default, all attributes are included but some attributes can be excluded, in which case they will be completely ignored by JMap Server. It is also possible to specify for which attributes JMap Server should create an index in order to optimize performances when queries are performed on these attributes (if no index is used, this will not affect map download and display times). These indexes are used when performing attribute queries on these fields.

This section also contains settings to configure external attributes. See External Attributes for more details on this topic.

Attributes  
Key attribute A key attribute is used when JMap must establish relationships between certain data and your spatial data. It is important to choose an attribute whose values will never change. If you do not need this parameter, you can keep the default value.
Include Included attributes are processed by JMap Server. They can be used in reports, to produce thematic maps, for labeling, etc. Excluded attributes are totally ignored by JMap Server. By default, all available attributes are included.
Indexed JMap Server can create an index on an attribute to speed up queries that will use this attribute. If you plan to use an attribute for attribute queries, this attribute should be indexed, especially if the data source has a lot of elements.

JMap ADF - E00 Arc - Info reader

   
Read Yes
Write No

JMap Server can read ADF and E00 files as a spatial data source. These files are normally produced by ESRI’s Arc/Info software.

Parameters  
Selected files Select one or more ADF or E00 files to be read. If you select several files, they must all share the same attributes list.
Layers Select one or more layers to be included in the data source. The data on other layers will not be read.

JMap CSV reader

   
Read Yes
Write No

JMap Server can read CSV files or any text file with separated values that contain x and y coordinates. These coordinates can be used for layers of points. The first row must contain the field names. The allowed separators are commas (,), semicolons (;) and tab characters. Text fields may or may not be inside double quotes. X and Y coordinates must be numeric values.

Parameters  
Selected files Select one or more CSV files to read. If selecting more than one file, all files must have the same list of attributes.
Separator Select the separator used in the files to read.
Data type Select the appropriate data type for each field.
X field Select the field that contains the X values. Only numeric fields are listed.
Y field Select the field that contains the Y values. Only numeric fields are listed.

JMap DGN V7 - V8 File reader

   
Read Yes
Write No

JMap Server can read DGN version 7 and 8 files as a spatial data source. Select the data source type that is appropriate for your DGN files’ version. DGN files are generally produced by Bentley MicroStation.

DGN files are often paired with a database of attributes. This can be an MS Access database or any other database system. If the DGN files have attributes stored in a separate database, you must first configure a database connection pool for that database before proceeding. See Creating Databases for more information on database connection configuration.

Parameters  
Selected files Select one or more DGN files to read. If selecting more than one file, all files must have the same list of attributes and geometries must be of the same type.
Convert polygons to lines Check this option if you want polygons to be read as lines.
Attribute database Optionally, select the database that contains the attributes. This database must be already configured in JMap Admin.
Layers Select one or more layers to include in the data source. Data on other layers will not be read.

JMap DWG - DXF reader

   
Read Yes
Write No

JMap Server can read DWG and DXF files produced by Autodesk Autocad versions 12 to 2018 as a spatial data source. Block attributes are read and converted into element attributes.

Parameters  
Selected files Select one or more DWG or DXF files to read. If selecting more than one file, all files must have the same list of attributes and geometries must be of the same type.
Source The Autocad file contains a model space and a paper space. The paper space contains additional elements that are intended for printing. Select the space to use in order for the data to be read by JMap (typically the model space).
Line and polygon options No conversion: No conversion will be done.
Convert closed lines to polygons: Closed line objects will be read as polygons by JMap.
Convert polygons to lines: Polygon objects will be read as lines by JMap.
Block reference options No conversion: No conversion will be done. The different types of objects (lines, polygons, …) will be treated separately by JMap.
Convert block references to complex elements: The different types of objects (lines, polygons, …) that compose the blocks will be read together and treated as complex elements by JMap.
Convert block references to points: JMap will replace block references by points. This has the effect of considerably reducing the size of the data when the blocks are composed of many objects.
Layers Select one or more layers to include in the data source. Data on other layers will not be read.

JMap EDIGEO reader

   
Read Yes
Write No

JMap Server can read EDIGEO files as spatial data sources.

Parameters  
Selected files Select one or more EDIGEO files to be read. If you select several files, they must all share the same attributes list.
Layers Select one or more layers to be included in the data source. The data on other layers will not be read.

JMap File geodatabase reader

   
Read Yes
Write No

JMap Server can read ESRI File geodatabases as a spatial data source.

Parameters  
Selected files Select the directory containing the geodatabase’s structure.
Layers Select one or more layers to be included in the data source. The data on other layers will not be read.

JMap GeoJSON reader

   
Read Yes
Write No

JMap Server can read GeoJSON files as a spatial data source.

Parameters  
Selected files Select one or more GeoJSON files to be read. If you select several files, they must all share the same attributes list.
Layers Select one or more layers to be included in the data source. The data on other layers will not be read.

JMap GML reader

   
Read Yes
Write No

JMap Server can read GML files as a spatial data source. GML files must be paired with schema files (.XSD). If a GML file contains instances of more than one feature type, only one of those types can be chosen as the base type for the data source. JMap can read GML files of versions 2.x and 3.x.

Parameters  
Selected files Select a GML file to read.
Feature type Select the feature type to read. GML files must be accompanied by a schema file (XSD).
GML version Indicate the version of the GML file (2.x or 3.x).

JMap GPX reader

   
Read Yes
Write No

GPX is an XML-based GPS data exchange format. JMap Server can read GPX files as a spatial data source.

Parameters  
Selected files Select one or more GPX files to be read. If you select several files, they must all share the same attributes list.
Layers Select one or more layers to be included in the data source. The data on other layers will not be read.

JMap IFC reader

   
Read Yes
Write No

JMap Server can read Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) files as a spatial data source. IFC is the standard exchange format commonly used by software for building information modeling (BIM).

JMap KML reader

   
Read Yes
Write No

JMap Server can read KML files as spatial data sources.

Parameters  
Selected files Select one or more KML files to be read. If you select several files, they must all share the same attributes list.
Layers Select one or more layers to be included in the data source. The data on other layers will not be read.

JMap MID - MIF reader

   
Read Yes
Write No

JMap Server can read MID/MIF files as a spatial data source. These files are generally produced by MapInfo applications.

Parameters  
Selected files Select one or more MIF files to read. If selecting more than one file, all files must have the same list of attributes, and geometries must be of the same type. Also, each MIF file must be accompanied by a MID file.

JMap SHP reader

   
Read Yes
Write No

JMap Server can read shape files as a spatial data source. They are generally produced by ESRI applications.

Parameters  
Selected files Select one or more shape files to read. If selecting more than one file, all files must have the same list of attributes, and geometries must be of the same type. Also, each shape file (SHP) must be accompanied by a DBF file and an SHX file.
DBF charset Select the character set used for the attributes stored in the DBF file. If this parameter is not set correctly, some characters may not be properly displayed. The default value is CP437, which is correct most of the time.

JMap TAB reader

   
Read Yes
Write No

JMap Server can read TAB files as spatial data sources. These files are usually produced with MapInfo applications.

Parameters  
Selected files Select one or more TAB files to read. If you select several files, they must all have the same attributes list, and the geometries must be of the same type.
Layers Select one or more layers to be included in the data source. Data on other layers will not be read.

Annotations in a database

   
Read Yes
Write No

JMap has its own storage format for annotations in database tables. If you have any annotations in this format, JMap Server can use them as a spatial data source. Annotation tables in JMap format have a certain number of required fields, as explained in the table below. An SQL query must be provided. The query will be executed to read the data and it can access more than one table at a time.

The database connection must already be configured. Refer to the Creating Databases section for more details on this topic.

Parameters  
Database Select the database from which the data must be read. This database must already be configured in JMap Admin.
SQL query Enter the SQL query used to extract annotations from the database.
Geometry table Select the physical table containing the geometries. By clicking on Load, you will obtain the list of fields returned by the query. This action is necessary to configure the remaining parameters.
X field Select the field containing the X coordinate of the lower left position of the text.
Y field Select the field containing the Y coordinate of the lower left position of the text.
Id field Select a field containing unique identifiers. Only fields containing integer numbers are listed.
Text field Select the field containing the annotation text.
Height field Select the field containing the height of the annotation, indicated in data units.
Angle field Select the field containing the rotation angle of the annotation text. The angle is indicated in degrees and increases clockwise. The zero value indicates that the text is horizontal.

ArcGIS REST

   
Read Yes
Write No

JMap Server can connect to ArcGIS Server and ArcGIS Online REST services to access vector data published by this type of service. Geometries and attributes are available, but the other information (styles, scales…) is ignored and must be configured in the layers of the JMap project.

Note that it is also possible to create a JMap project by importing an existing layer configuration from an ArcGIS REST service. Refer to Creating projects for more information.

Parameters  
URL URL of the service of an ArcGIS REST layer.e.g. http://sampleserver1.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/Demographics/ESRI_Census_USA/MapServer/5
Username Enter the username to authenticate and log in to the ArcGIS REST service.
Password Enter the password to authenticate and log in to the ArcGIS REST service.

ArcSDE geodatabase

   
Read Yes
Write Yes

JMap Server can read Enterprise geodatabases that use the ArcSDE service (ArcGIS version 10.1 and earlier) to extract spatial and attribute data to be used as a spatial data source. The connection to the ArcSDE service must already be configured. See Creating Databases for more information.

Parameters  
SDE Connection Select the SDE connection to use to extract spatial data and attributes. The connection uses the ArcSDE driver and must already be configured in JMap Admin.
Layer Select the feature class to read. Each table in the SDE database is associated with a different feature class.
Id field Select the field that contains unique identifiers. Only integer fields are listed. The field is usually called OBJECT_ID.
Creation time field This parameter is optional. If you want this data source to be editable by JMap, this field will show the creation date of each object. If no field is selected, the data can still be edited, but this information will not be maintained.
Modification date field (Optional) If you want this data source to be editable by JMap, this field will contain the date each object was last modified. If no field is selected, the data can still be edited, but this information will not be maintained.
This field is used to manage transaction conflicts and must be present in the attributes of editable layers for the feature to be enabled.
Author field (Optional) If you want this data source to be editable by JMap, this field will either contain the name of the user who created each object or the name of the user who made the last change. If no field is selected, the data can still be edited, but this information will not be maintained.
Metadata database (Optional) This field is used to define the database containing the value domains and the relationships to be used. These must have been exported from ArcSDE beforehand in a specific table structure.

There is a special attribute configuration option that is available only with ArcSDE data sources that have attribute domains.

Attributes  
Data source Select whether the attribute values should be used directly (Attribute) or if they should be substituted by the values specified in the domain (Domain).

Exporting ArcSDE domains

In order for JMap to use ArcSDE attribute domains, they must be exported into database tables that JMap can understand. There is a tool that plugs into ArcCatalog to create such tables. Please contact K2 Geospatial for more information on this.

Coordinates in a database

   
Read Yes
Write Yes

JMap Server can connect to any relational database to extract X and Y coordinates that can be used as a spatial data source to create layers of points. The database must contain at least coordinate fields (numeric values) and a field with unique integer values to be used as element identifiers. An SQL query must be provided. This query will be executed to read the data and it can access one or many tables at the same time.

The connection to the database must already be configured. See Creating Databases for more information.

Parameters  
Database Select the database to read the data from. It must already be configured in JMap Admin.
SQL query Enter the SQL query used to extract coordinates and attributes from the database.
Geometry table Select the physical table that effectively contains the x and y coordinate values. Pressing Load will retrieve the list of fields returned by the query. This action is necessary to configure the rest of the parameters.
X field Select the field that contains the X values. Only numeric fields are listed.
Y field Select the field that contains the Y values. Only numeric fields are listed.
Id field Select a field that contains unique identifiers. Only integer fields are listed.
Creation time field (Optional) If you want this data source to be editable by JMap, this field will show the creation date of each object. If no field is selected, the data can still be edited, but this information will not be maintained.
Modification date field (Optional) If you want this data source to be editable by JMap, this field will contain the date each object was last modified. If no field is selected, the data can still be edited, but this information will not be maintained.
Author field (Optional) If you want this data source to be editable by JMap, this field will either contain the name of the user who created each object or the name of the user who made the last change. If no field is selected, the data can still be edited, but this information will not be maintained.

Enterprise geodatabase

   
Read Yes
Write Yes

JMap Server can read Enterprise geodatabases from ESRI (ArcGIS 10.0 and later) to extract spatial and attribute data to be used as a spatial data source. The connection to the database must already be configured. See Creating Databases for more information.

The spatial data source supports value domains. Relationships defined in the enterprise geodatabase (EGDB) are also supported, but can only be exploited by using external tools.

The data source attributes will correspond to the table columns. To associate the data from other tables, a view can be created in the database and then be configured as a layer in JMap. The data source attributes will then correspond to the columns returned by the view.

Parameters  
Database Select the database connection to be used to extract the spatial data and attributes. The connection is a standard database (Oracle, SQL Server, etc.). It must already be configured in JMap Admin.
System tables schema Select the database schema where the metadata tables are located.
Schema Select the database schema in which the table (or view) containing the feature class will be read.
Layer Select the feature class to be read. Each table in the database corresponds to a different layer.
Id field Select a field that contains unique identifiers. Only integer fields are listed. The field is usually called OBJECT_ID.
Geometry field Select the field that contains the geometries.
Creation time field (Optional) If you want this data source to be editable by JMap, this field will show the creation date of each object. If no field is selected, the data can still be edited, but this information will not be maintained.
Modification date field (Optional) If you want this data source to be editable by JMap, this field will contain the date each object was last modified. If no field is selected, the data can still be edited, but this information will not be maintained.
This field is used to manage transaction conflicts. It must be present in the attributes of editable layers in order for the feature to be enabled.
Author field (Optional) If you want this data source to be editable by JMap, this field will either contain the name of the user who created each object or the name of the user who made the last change. If no field is selected, the data can still be edited, but this information will not be maintained.

JMap Server

   
Read Yes
Write Yes

JMap Server may use a vector spatial data source that comes from another JMap Server instance. To enable this, you must start by configuring a connection towards the other JMap Server. Refer to JMap Server to JMap Server Connections for more information.

Parameters  
Remote connection Select the connection towards another JMap Server instance that must be used to extract spatial data and attributes. The connection must already be configured in JMap Admin.
Data source Select the existing vector spatial data source on the other JMap Server instance you wish to access. This data source must be shared by the other server.

JMap Spatial Table

   
Read Yes
Write Yes

JMap Spatial is the format used to store JMap’s spatial and descriptive data. It is based on the WKB format (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Well-known_binary).

An existing JMap Spatial table may be used as a spatial data source or a new one can be created to receive data.

Parameter  
Table Select the JMap Spatial table to be used as a data source. If the table does not exist, you can create it by clicking on Add table.

Adding or modifying a table

Click on Add table to create a new table in JMap Spatial format. You can also select an existing table and click on Edit table to change its name or structure. When creating or editing a table, you can add new fields to the table in the User Attributes tab by clicking on img and remove fields by clicking onimg. Note that there are other fields in the table displayed on the System Attributes tab. These include geometry fields (vary according to geometry type), spatial index fields, and so on. These fields are created and populated automatically by JMap.

Once the table has been created or modified, it can be used for the spatial data source.

MySQL Spatial

   
Read Yes
Write Yes

JMap Server can connect to MySQL Spatial databases to extract spatial data and attributes to be used as a spatial data source. The only special requirement is the presence of a numeric column with unique integer values to use as element identifiers. An SQL query must be provided. This query will be executed to read the data and it can access one or many tables at the same time.

The connection to the database must be already configured. See Creating Databases for more information on this topic.

Parameters  
Database Select the MySQL database to read the data from. It must already be configured in JMap Admin.
SQL query Enter the SQL query used to extract geometries and attributes from the database.
Geometry table Select the physical table that contains the geometries. Pressing Load will retrieve the list of fields returned by the query. This action is necessary to configure the rest of the parameters.
Geometry field Select the field that contains the geometries.
Id field Select a field that contains unique identifiers. Only integer fields are listed.
Creation time field (Optional) If you want this data source to be editable by JMap, this field will show the creation date of each object. If no field is selected, the data can still be edited, but this information will not be maintained.
Modification date field (Optional) If you want this data source to be editable by JMap, this field will contain the date each object was last modified. If no field is selected, the data can still be edited, but this information will not be maintained.
Author field (Optional) If you want this data source to be editable by JMap, this field will either contain the name of the user who created each object or the name of the user who made the last change. If no field is selected, the data can still be edited, but this information will not be maintained.

Oracle Spatial Locator

   
Read Yes
Write Yes

JMap Server can connect to Oracle Spatial or Locator databases to extract spatial data and attributes to be used as a spatial data source. The only special requirement is the presence of a numeric column with unique integer values to be used as element identifiers. An SQL query must be provided. This query will be executed to read the data and it can access one or many tables at the same time.

The connection to the database must already be configured. See Creating Databases for more information.

Parameters  
Database Select the Oracle database to read the data from. It must already be configured in JMap Admin.
SQL query Enter the SQL query used to extract geometries and attributes from the database.
Geometry table Select the physical table that effectively contains the geometries. Pressing Load will retrieve the list of fields returned by the query. This action is necessary to configure the rest of the parameters.
Geometry field Select the field that contains the geometries.
Id field Select a field that contains unique identifiers. Only integer fields are listed.
Creation time field (Optional) If you want this data source to be editable by JMap, this field will show the creation date of each object. If no field is selected, the data can still be edited, but this information will not be maintained.
Modification date field (Optional) If you want this data source to be editable by JMap, this field will contain the date each object was last modified. If no field is selected, the data can still be edited, but this information will not be maintained.
Author field (Optional) If you want this data source to be editable by JMap, this field will either contain the name of the user who created each object or the name of the user who made the last change. If no field is selected, the data can still be edited, but this information will not be maintained.

Personal geodatabase

   
Read Yes
Write No

JMap Server can read ESRI Personal geodatabases to extract spatial and attribute data to be used as a spatial data source. This format uses Microsoft Access files to store the data. The connection to the Access database must already be configured using the MS Access driver. See Creating Databases for more information on this topic.

Parameters  
Database Select the database to read the data from. This database must connect to an MS Access file. It must already be configured in JMap Admin.
SQL query Enter the SQL query used to extract geometries and attributes from the database.
Geometry table Select the physical table that effectively contains the geometries. Pressing Load will retrieve the list of fields returned by the query. This is necessary for the rest of the configuration.
Id field Select a field that contains unique identifiers. Only integer fields are listed. The field is usually called OBJECT_ID.

PostGIS

   
Read Yes
Write Yes

JMap Server can connect to PostGIS databases to extract spatial data and attributes that can be used as a spatial data source. The only special requirement is the presence of a numeric column with unique integer values to be used as element identifiers. An SQL query must be provided. This query will be executed to read the data and it can access one or many tables at the same time.

The connection to the database must be already configured. See Creating Databases for more information.

Parameters  
Database Select the PostGIS database to read the data from. It must already be configured in JMap Admin.
SQL query Enter the SQL query used to extract geometries and attributes from the database.
Geometry table Select the physical table that effectively contains the geometries. Pressing Load will retrieve the list of fields returned by the query. This is necessary for the rest of the configuration.
Geometry field Select the field that contains the geometries.
Id field Select a field that contains unique identifiers. Only integer fields are listed.
Creation time field (Optional) If you want this data source to be editable by JMap, this field will show the creation date of each object. If no field is selected, the data can still be edited, but this information will not be maintained.
Modification date field (Optional) If you want this data source to be editable by JMap, this field will contain the date each object was last modified. If no field is selected, the data can still be edited, but this information will not be maintained.
Author field (Optional) If you want this data source to be editable by JMap, this field will either contain the name of the user who created each object or the name of the user who made the last change. If no field is selected, the data can still be edited, but this information will not be maintained.

SQL Server Spatial

   
Read Yes
Write Yes

JMap Server can connect to Microsoft SQLServer Spatial databases to extract spatial data and attributes that can be used as a spatial data source. The only special requirement is the presence of a numeric column with unique integer values to be used as element identifiers. An SQL query must be provided. This query will be executed to read the data and it can access one or many tables at the same time.

The connection to the database must be already configured. See Creating Databases for more information.

Parameters  
Database Select the SQLServer Spatial database to read the data from. It must be already configured in JMap Admin.
SQL query Enter the SQL query used to extract geometries and attributes from the database.
Geometry table Select the physical table that effectively contains the geometries. Pressing Load will retrieve the list of fields returned by the query. This is necessary for the rest of the configuration.
Geometry field Select the field that contains the geometries.
Id field Select a field that contains unique identifiers. Only integer fields are listed.
Automatically convert to valid geometry When this option is active, the geometries will automatically be converted using the SQL MakeValid function. Note that the result can therefore differ from the original geometry, as the function will alter invalid geometries.This option also requires a valid SRID, so a projection must be specified for the data source. MakeValid is not supported by all SQL Server versions, please consult SQL Server’s help to confirm the compatibility of the function for the geometries or geographies and your particular SQL Server version. Activating this option without meeting these criteria will result in an error during the insertion or updating of the data.
Creation time field (Optional) If you want this data source to be editable by JMap, this field will show the creation date of each object. If no field is selected, the data can still be edited, but this information will not be maintained.
Modification date field (Optional) If you want this data source to be editable by JMap, this field will contain the date each object was last modified. If no field is selected, the data can still be edited, but this information will not be maintained.
Author field (Optional) If you want this data source to be editable by JMap, this field will either contain the name of the user who created each object or the name of the user who made the last change. If no field is selected, the data can still be edited, but this information will not be maintained.

Note: The projection system selected for the spatial data source must exactly match the spatial reference identifier (SRID, e.g. EPSG) of the elements of the table, for the elements to be displayed.

WFS Server

   
Read Yes
Write Yes

Web Feature Service (WFS) is a standard proposed by the Open Geospatial Consortium that defines how client applications should request map vector data and attributes from a WFS compatible server. The protocol used is HTTP and the data returned is typically in Geography Markup Language (GML). WFS servers publish their capabilities in an XML document that specifies the types of requests supported and provides a description of available features.

JMap Server can read data from WFS servers versions 1.0.0 and 1.1.0 to be used as a spatial data source.

Parameters  
URL Enter the GetCapabilities URL that will return the capabilities of the WFS server. It should be similar to:
http://www.server.com/wfs?SERVICE=WFS&VERSION=1.0.0&REQUEST=GetCapabilitie
Feature types The list of feature types is returned by the WFS server after pressing Load. Select one feature type to read.

WKB or WKT in a database

   
Read Yes
Write Yes

JMap Server can connect to databases containing geometries that have been coded according to WKB and WKT standards (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Well-known_text).

In addition to the column containing the geometry, you must have a number column with unique integer values used as element identifiers. There must also be 4 columns containing the values of minimum bounding rectangles (MBR).

An SQL query must be provided. The query will be launched to read the data and it can access more than one table at a time.

The connection to the database must already be configured. Refer to the section Creating Databases for more information on this topic.

Parameters  
Database Select the database from which the data must be read. This database must already be configured in JMap Admin.
SQL query Enter the SQL query used to extract geometries and attributes from the database.
Geometry table Select the physical table containing the geometries. Clicking on Load displays the list of fields returned by the query. This action is required to proceed with the configuration.
Geometry field Select the field containing the geometries.
Geometry type Select the format of the data to read, either WKB or WKT.
Encoding (for WKB only) If the data format is WKB, you must indicate the type of coding used by the data: Little Endian or Big Endian.
MBR X1 Minimum X value of the minimum bounding rectangle (MBR) in the geometry.
MBR Y1 Minimum Y value of the minimum bounding rectangle (MBR) in the geometry.
MBR X2 Maximum X value of the minimum bounding rectangle (MBR) in the geometry.
MBR Y2 Maximum Y value of the minimum bounding rectangle (MBR) in the geometry.
Id field Select a field that contains unique identifiers. Only the fields containing whole numbers are listed.
Creation time field (Optional) If you want this data source to be editable by JMap, this field will show the creation date of each object. If no field is selected, the data can still be edited, but this information will not be maintained.
Modification date field (Optional) If you want this data source to be editable by JMap, this field will contain the date each object was last modified. If no field is selected, the data can still be edited, but this information will not be maintained.
Author field (Optional) If you want this data source to be editable by JMap, this field will either contain the name of the user who created each object or the name of the user who made the last change. If no field is selected, the data can still be edited, but this information will not be maintained.