CSV Grid Files

A CSV Grid format is an AIR-defined proprietary raster data format for representing spatial data as a matrix of cells, or pixels, organized into rows and columns, where each cell contains an attribute value from the CSV file.

A valid CSV Grid file includes two component files that contain geometric and attribute data. Both files are required and must be stored in the same project workspace.

•       CSV: The main file, which you select during the import process. This file contains latitude and longitude coordinates and attributes. It must contain Latitude, Longitude, and Value columns. The Value column contains the corresponding value, such as for wind speed, at each location.

•       XML: The XML header file. This file specifies cell (pixel) size  and the location of the cell reference point.

The base name of both files must be the same. For example: m60_evt12_wndspeed.csv, m60_evt12_wndspeed.xml

When you import a CSV file, Map Layer Import converts the file into the AIR Grid format. Before importing the file, make sure that you understand the data that you are importing, for example, you need to know what the columns are when you map them.

For more information, see

•       Guidelines and Restrictions

•       Sample Workflow