What is the easiest way to import multiple polygons?

Greg Nash
Greg Nash Global Mapper UserTrusted User
I have a big list of polygons in excel. It looks something like this:

Name    X    Y
Poly1    0    0
Poly1    5    0
Poly1    5    5
Poly1    0    5
Poly2    0    5
Poly2    5    5
Poly2    5    9
Poly2    0    9
...

I'm looking for an easy way to import all of them without dividing them into a separate csv file for each polygon. I think that I solved this by using wkt. I can use Excel's "concatenate()" function to create the wkt in a new column and then I just export that column. However, I don't see any way of preserving the name when I do this. After I import all of my polygons, it looks like I'll have to name them by hand. Is there some sort of way for me to import a bunch of polygons as well as their names?

Answers

  • Mykle
    Mykle Global Mapper User Trusted User
    Greg,

    I created three polygons and exported them using "Simple ASCII (XYZ) Text File", then turned off the original layer and imported the file as a check.  The imported shapes had the names capitalized, but that was the only difference.  "Survey Line 1" is one of my line styles, and that's how the polygons were styled on import.  You might be able to omit DESCRIPTION and specify it on import.  Otherwise you would only need to ensure that the appropriate datum/projection was documented.

    This would not be the most convenient in Excel, but it looks do-able.
    Mykle

    DESCRIPTION=Survey Line 1
    NAME=poly1
    479817.24451,3553108.56485
    479963.38230,3553185.72560
    480102.50547,3553145.97613
    480093.15265,3552990.48552
    479930.64743,3552971.77988
    479819.58272,3553109.73396
    DESCRIPTION=Survey Line 1
    NAME=poly2
    480370.22990,3553211.44585
    480275.53261,3553321.34147
    480262.67249,3553136.62331
    480371.39900,3553211.44585
    DESCRIPTION=Survey Line 1
    NAME=poly3
    480409.97938,3553050.10974
    480557.28627,3552971.77988
    480321.12760,3552854.86965
    480166.80610,3552926.18489
    480408.81027,3553051.27884


  • Greg Nash
    Greg Nash Global Mapper User Trusted User
    Answer ✓
    Reformatting the file as Mykle suggests above might be a good way to solve the problem, but I just learned that I can use the "Include attributes from lines with coordinate data" checkbox to solve this. I just need to make sure that the attribute information comes after the coordinate information (which doesn't need to be in wkt format). I also checked the "Column headers in first row of file" box and reduced the "Rows to Skip at Start of File" down to zero.

    Now, I just need to add rows to close my polygons before I export them so that the "Create Areas from Closed Lines" checkbox will work.