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Supported data format details

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This article provides specifics on the read and write support for all XML tags and Well-Known Text geometry types. It also details how the delimited spatial data is parsed in the spatial IO module.

Supported XML namespaces

The spatial IO module supports XML tags from the following namespaces.

Namespace Prefix Namespace URI Notes
atom http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom
geo http://www.w3.org/2003/01/geo/wgs84_pos# Read only support in GeoRSS files.
georss http://www.georss.org/georss
geourl http://geourl.org/rss/module/ Read only support in GeoRSS files.
gml http://www.opengis.net/gml
gpx http://www.topografix.com/GPX/1/1
gpxx http://www.garmin.com/xmlschemas/GpxExtensions/v3 Read only support in GPX files. Parses and uses DisplayColor. All other properties added to shape metadata.
gpx_style http://www.topografix.com/GPX/gpx_style/0/2 Supported in GPX files. Uses line color.
gx http://www.google.com/kml/ext/2.2
kml http://www.opengis.net/kml/2.2
rss Read only. GeoRSS writes using Atom format.

Supported XML elements

The spatial IO module supports the following XML elements. Any XML tags that aren't supported are converted into a JSON object. Then, each tag is added as a property in the properties field of the parent shape or layer.

KML elements

The spatial IO module supports the following KML elements.

Element Name Read Write Notes
address partial yes Object is parsed but isn't used for positioning shape.
AddressDetails partial no Object is parsed but isn't used for positioning shape.
atom:author yes yes
atom:link yes yes
atom:name yes yes
BalloonStyle partial partial displayMode isn't supported. Converted to a PopupTemplate. To write, add a popupTemplate property as a property of the feature you want to write it for.
begin yes yes
color yes yes Includes #AABBGGRR and #BBGGRR. Parsed into a CSS color string
colorMode yes no
coordinates yes yes
Data yes yes
description yes yes
displayName yes yes
Document yes yes
drawOrder partial no Read for ground overlays and used to sort them.
east yes yes
end yes yes
ExtendedData yes yes Supports untyped Data, SimpleData or Schema, and entity replacements of the form $[dataName].
extrude partial partial Only supported for polygons. MultiGeometry that have polygons of different heights are broken out into individual features. Line styles aren't supported. Polygons with an altitude of 0 is rendered as a flat polygon. When reading, the altitude of the first coordinate in the exterior ring is added as a height property of the polygon. Then, the altitude of the first coordinate is used to render the polygon on the map.
fill yes yes
Folder yes yes
GroundOverlay yes yes color isn't supported
heading partial no Parsed but not rendered by SimpleDataLayer. Only writes if data is stored in the property of the shape.
hotSpot yes partial Only writes if data is stored in the property of the shape. Units are outputted as "pixels" only.
href yes yes
Icon partial partial Parsed but not rendered by SimpleDataLayer. Only writes the icon property of the shape if it contains a URI data. Only href is supported.
IconStyle partial partial icon, heading, colorMode, and hotspots values are parsed, but not rendered by SimpleDataLayer
innerBoundaryIs yes yes
kml yes yes
LabelStyle no no
LatLonBox yes yes
gx:LatLonQuad yes yes
LinearRing yes yes
LineString yes yes
LineStyle yes yes colorMode isn't supported.
Link yes no Only the href property is supported for network links.
MultiGeometry partial partial May be broken out into individual features when read.
name yes yes
NetworkLink yes no Links need to be on the same domain as the document.
NetworkLinkControl no no
north yes yes
open yes yes
outerBoundaryIs yes yes
outline yes yes
overlayXY no no
Pair partial no Only the normal style in a StyleMap is supported. highlight isn't supported.
phoneNumber yes yes
PhotoOverlay no no
Placemark yes yes
Point yes yes
Polygon yes yes
PolyStyle yes yes
Region partial partial LatLongBox is supported at the document level.
rotation no no
rotationXY no no
scale no no
Schema yes yes
SchemaData yes yes
schemaUrl partial yes Doesn't support loading styles from external documents that aren't included in a KMZ.
ScreenOverlay no no
screenXY no no
SimpleData yes yes
SimpleField yes yes
size no no
Snippet partial partial maxLines attribute is ignored.
south yes yes
Style yes yes
StyleMap partial no Only the normal style in a StyleMap is supported.
styleUrl partial yes External style URLs aren't supported.
text yes yes Replacement of $[geDirections] isn't supported
textColor yes yes
TimeSpan yes yes
TimeStamp yes yes
value yes yes
viewRefreshMode partial no If pointing to a WMS service, then only onStop is supported for ground overlays. Appends BBOX={bboxWest},{bboxSouth},{bboxEast},{bboxNorth} to the URL and update as the map moves.
visibility yes yes
west yes yes
when yes yes
width yes yes

GeoRSS elements

The spatial IO module supports the following GeoRSS elements.

Element Name Read Write Notes
atom:author yes yes
atom:category yes yes
atom:content yes yes
atom:contributor yes yes
atom:email yes yes
atom:entry yes yes
atom:feed yes yes
atom:icon yes yes
atom:id yes yes
atom:link yes yes
atom:logo yes yes
atom:name yes yes
atom:published yes yes
atom:rights yes yes
atom:source yes yes
atom:subtitle yes yes
atom:summary yes yes
atom:title yes yes
atom:updated yes yes
atom:uri yes yes
geo:lat yes no Written as a georss:point.
geo:lon yes no Written as a georss:point.
geo:long yes no Written as a georss:point.
georss:box yes no Read as a polygon and given a subType property of "Rectangle"
georss:circle yes yes
georss:elev yes yes
georss:featurename yes yes
georss:featuretypetag yes yes
georss:floor yes yes
georss:line yes yes
georss:point yes yes
georss:polygon yes yes
georss:radius yes yes
georss:relationshiptag yes yes
georss:where yes yes
geourl:latitude yes no Written as a georss:point.
geourl:longitude yes no Written as a georss:point.
position yes no Some XML feeds wrap GML with a position tag instead of wrapping it with a georss:where tag. Read this tag, but writes using a georss:where tag.
rss yes no GeoRSS written in ATOM format.
rss:author yes partial Written as an atom:author.
rss:category yes partial Written as an atom:category.
rss:channel yes no
rss:cloud yes no
rss:comments yes no
rss:copyright yes partial Written as an atom:rights if shape doesn't have a rights properties property already.
rss:description yes partial Written as an atom:content if shape doesn't have a content properties property already.
rss:docs yes no
rss:enclosure yes no
rss:generator yes no
rss:guid yes partial Written as an atom:id if shape doesn't have an id properties property already.
rss:image yes partial Written as an atom:logo if shape doesn't have a logo properties property already.
rss:item yes partial Written as an atom:entry.
rss:language yes no
rss:lastBuildDate yes partial Written as an atom:updated if shape doesn't have an updated properties property already.
rss:link yes partial Written as an atom:link.
rss:managingEditor yes partial Written as an atom:contributor.
rss:pubDate yes partial Written as an atom:published if shape doesn't have a published properties property already.
rss:rating yes no
rss:skipDays yes no
rss:skipHours yes no
rss:source yes partial Written as an atom:source containing an atom:link.
rss:textInput yes no
rss:title yes partial Written as an atom:title.
rss:ttl yes no
rss:webMaster yes no

GML elements

The spatial IO module supports the following GML elements.

Element Name Read Write Notes
gml:coordinates yes no Written as gml:posList.
gml:curveMember yes no
gml:curveMembers yes no
gml:Box yes no Written as gml:Envelope.
gml:description yes yes
gml:Envelope yes yes
gml:exterior yes yes
gml:Feature yes no Written as a shape.
gml:FeatureCollection yes no Written as a geometry collection.
gml:featureMember yes no Written as a geometry collection.
gml:geometry yes no Written as a shape.
gml:geometryMember yes yes
gml:geometryMembers yes yes
gml:identifier yes yes
gml:innerBoundaryIs yes no Written using gml.interior.
gml:interior yes yes
gml:LinearRing yes yes
gml:LineString yes yes
gml:lineStringMember yes yes
gml:lineStringMembers yes no
gml:MultiCurve yes no Only reads gml:LineString members. Written as gml.MultiLineString
gml:MultiGeometry partial partial Only read as a FeatureCollection.
gml:MultiLineString yes yes
gml:MultiPoint yes yes
gml:MultiPolygon yes yes
gml:MultiSurface yes no Only reads gml:Polygon members. Written as gml.MultiPolygon
gml:name yes yes
gml:outerBoundaryIs yes no Written using gml.exterior.
gml:Point yes yes
gml:pointMember yes yes
gml:pointMembers yes no
gml:Polygon yes yes
gml:polygonMember yes yes
gml:polygonMembers yes no
gml:pos yes yes
gml:posList yes yes
gml:surfaceMember yes yes

More notes

  • Member elements are searched for a geometry that may be buried within child elements. This search operation is necessary as many XML formats that extend from GML may not place a geometry as a direct child of a member element.
  • srsName is partially supported for WGS84 coordinates and the following codes:EPSG:4326), and web Mercator (EPSG:3857 or one of its alternative codes. Any other coordinate system is parsed as WGS84 as-is.
  • Unless specified when reading an XML feed, the axis order is determined based on hints in the XML feed. A preference is given for the "latitude, longitude" axis order.
  • Unless a custom GML namespace is specified for the properties when writing to a GML file, other property information isn't added.

GPX elements

The spatial IO module supports the following GPX elements.

Element Name Read Write Notes
gpx:ageofdgpsdata yes yes
gpx:author yes yes
gpx:bounds yes yes Converted into a LocationRect when read.
gpx:cmt yes yes
gpx:copyright yes yes
gpx:desc yes yes Copied into a description property when read to align with other XML formats.
gpx:dgpsid yes yes
gpx:ele yes yes
gpx:extensions partial partial When read, style information is extracted. All other extensions are flattened into a simple JSON object. Only shape style information is written.
gpx:geoidheight yes yes
gpx:gpx yes yes
gpx:hdop yes yes
gpx:link yes yes
gpx:magvar yes yes
gpx:metadata yes yes
gpx:name yes yes
gpx:pdop yes yes
gpx:rte yes yes
gpx:rtept yes yes
gpx:sat yes yes
gpx:src yes yes
gpx:sym yes yes Value is captured, but it isn't used to alter the pushpin icon.
gpx:text yes yes
gpx:time yes yes
gpx:trk yes yes
gpx:trkpt yes yes
gpx:trkseg yes yes
gpx:type yes yes
gpx:vdop yes yes
gpx:wpt yes yes
gpx_style:color yes yes
gpx_style:line partial partial color, opacity, width, lineCap are supported.
gpx_style:opacity yes yes
gpx_style:width yes yes
gpxx:DisplayColor yes no Used to specify the color of a shape. If writing, gpx_style:line color is used instead.
gpxx:RouteExtension partial no All properties are read into properties. Only DisplayColor is used.
gpxx:TrackExtension partial no All properties are read into properties. Only DisplayColor is used.
gpxx:WaypointExtension partial no All properties are read into properties. Only DisplayColor is used.
gpx:keywords yes yes
gpx:fix yes yes

More notes

When writing;

  • MultiPoints is broken up into individual waypoints.
  • Polygons and MultiPolygons are written as tracks.

Supported Well-Known Text geometry types

Geometry type Read Write
POINT x x
POINT Z x x
POINT M x x[2]
POINT ZM x[1][2]
LINESTRING x x
LINESTRING Z x x
LINESTRING M x x[2]
LINESTRING ZM x[1][2]
POLYGON x x
POLYGON Z x x
POLYGON M x x[2]
POLYGON ZM x[1][2]
MULTIPOINT x x
MULTIPOINT Z x x
MULTIPOINT M x x[2]
POMULTIPOINTINT ZM x[1][2]
MULTILINESTRING x x
MULTILINESTRING Z x x
MULTILINESTRING M x x[2]
MULTILINESTRING ZM x[1][2]
MULTIPOLYGON x x
MULTIPOLYGON Z x x
MULTIPOLYGON M x x[2]
MULTIPOLYGON ZM x[1][2]
GEOMETRYCOLLECTION x x
GEOMETRYCOLLECTION Z x x
GEOMETRYCOLLECTION M x x[2]
GEOMETRYCOLLECTION ZM x[1][2] x

[1] Only Z parameter is captured and added as a third value in the Position value.

[2] M parameter isn't captured.

Delimited spatial data support

Delimited spatial data, such as comma-separated value files (CSV), often have columns that contain spatial data. For example, there could be columns that contain latitude and longitude information. In Well-Known Text format, there could be a column that contains spatial geometry data.

Spatial data column detection

When reading a delimited file that contains spatial data, the header is analyzed to determine which columns contain location fields. If the header contains type information, it's used to cast the cell values to the appropriate type. If no header is specified, the first row is analyzed to generate a header. When analyzing the first row, a check is executed to match column names with the following names in a case-insensitive way. The order of the names is the priority, in case two or more names exist in a file.

Latitude

  • latitude
  • lat
  • latdd
  • lat_dd
  • latitude83
  • latdecdeg
  • y
  • ycenter
  • point-y

Longitude

  • longitude
  • lon
  • lng
  • long
  • longdd
  • long_dd
  • longitude83
  • longdecdeg
  • x
  • xcenter
  • point-x

Elevation

  • elevation
  • elv
  • altitude
  • alt
  • z

Geography

The first row of data is scanned for strings that are in Well-Known Text format.

Delimited data column types

When scanning the header row, any type information that is in the column name is extracted and used to cast the cells in that column. Here's an example of a column name that has a type value: "ColumnName (typeName)". The following case-insensitive type names are supported:

Numbers

  • edm.int64
  • int
  • long
  • edm.double
  • float
  • double
  • number

Booleans

  • edm.boolean
  • bool
  • boolean

Dates

  • edm.datetime
  • date
  • datetime

Geography

  • edm.geography
  • geography

Strings

  • edm.string
  • varchar
  • text
  • string

If no type information can be extracted from the header, and the dynamic typing option is enabled when reading, then each cell is individually analyzed to determine what data type it's best suited to be cast as.

Next steps

See the following articles for more code samples to add to your maps:

Read and write spatial data