Custom Map Layers in 5.0

The Map Layer Import function enables you to import map layers—shapefiles and CSV Grid files—into Touchstone. After importing the spatial files, you can view contract-level exposure data with your custom map layers or with AIR-provided map layers. You can also run Geospatial Analyses with map layers and apply map layers to the results.

Before importing spatial data files, you must ensure that all the required component files are valid and that they are stored in the same project workspace. In addition, to avoid an import failure, you must be aware of some restrictions, as described in the following topics:

•          CSV Grid Files

•          Shapefiles

Click the following links for information about importing, managing, and using map layers, and working with maps:

•       Importing CSV Grid Files -- Sample Workflow

•       Importing Shapefiles -- Sample Workflow

•       Data Types

•       Legend Types

•       Deleting Custom Map Layers

•       Viewing map layers

•       Running Geospatial analyses with map layers

•       Using map layers in Geospatial analysis results

•       Working with maps

General Performance Guidelines When Importing Map Layers

Here are some general guidelines about import and rendering times for shapefiles and CSV Grid files:

•       Times vary depending on how heavily the database server is being used. Your database administrator should perform regular maintenance on the database’s spatial indexes to ensure optimal rendering times for the files and optimal runtime of the geospatial analyses.

•       Shapefiles are typically imported more quickly than CSV Grid files. However, performance is better with CSV Grid files for rendering and geospatial analyses.

•       The more vertices there are in a shapefile and the more cells there are in a CSV Grid file, the longer it will take to import them. For example, the import time for a 100-year CSV Grid file with 9,375,977 cells is about 50 minutes. It takes less than 1 second to render the file, about 50 seconds to run a 10K geospatial analysis, and about 8 minutes to run a 100K geospatial analysis. The import time for a 100-year shapefile with 97 polygons is about 36 seconds. It takes about 5 seconds to render the file, longer than 5 minutes to run a 10K geospatial analysis, and longer than 10 minutes to run a 100K geospatial analysis.