Maptitude Help / Managing Geographic Files / Importing Geographic Files

Importing Geographic Files

Maptitude can import geographic data from many other file formats. When you import files from these other formats, Maptitude creates a new standard format geographic file and creates a new map layer from the features in the file.

Some types of files contain a mixture of points, lines, areas, and other types of features. When you import a file, you choose the types of features you want to create when the file is imported, and Maptitude automatically decides what parts of the import file to use and what parts to ignore.

Certain types of area layers are not stored topologically, so they may have duplicate boundaries. The Eliminate Duplicate Boundary Lines option allows you to import these files without duplicate boundaries, but requires more memory. If you are importing particularly large files, you may run into memory limitations that require you turn this option off. Maptitude will build the area file but will not detect and eliminate common boundaries. For example, the coordinates of the boundary between Massachusetts and Connecticut would be stored twice – once as part of the Massachusetts boundary, and once as part of the Connecticut boundary. This option requires almost no memory, so you can import very large files without difficulty.

Your import files may store the locations of features in longitude and latitude coordinates, just as Maptitude does, or in some other coordinate system such as State Plane Coordinates or Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM). If the data you want to import are not in longitude and latitude coordinates, see Using Data in Other Coordinate Systems.

In this topic:

Importing ArcInfo Ungenerate and Export Files

Esri’s ArcInfo product imports and exports geographic data using several different file formats. Maptitude imports data from both Export format (E00) files and Ungenerate format files, as well as Esri Shapefile format. These two formats are named after the ArcInfo EXPORT and UNGENERATE commands, respectively, which are used to produce the files.

In the Export format, geographic and tabular data for features in an ArcInfo coverage are stored in a series of one or more files with extensions of .e00, .e01, and so on. To import an Export format file, you choose the first file in the series, and specify the type of layer you want to build. The ArcInfo EXPORT command can produce files in either single or double precision, and in either compressed or uncompressed format. Maptitude can read files in either precision, but cannot read the compressed format Export files.

In the Ungenerate format, points are stored in a single file with the extension .pts, while lines are stored in a single file with the extension .lin. Areas are stored in two files, one with each of these file extensions. To import an Ungenerate format file, you choose the file you want to import, and specify the type of layer you want to build. If you want to import areas, choose one of the two files, and Maptitude will find the other one automatically.

Blue triangle iconTo Import ArcInfo Export Format or Ungenerate Format Files

  1. Choose File>Open or click File Open button icon on the Standard toolbar to display the File Open dialog box.
  2. Choose Esri Export or Esri Ungenerate as the file type, choose the file to import, and click Open. Maptitude displays the Import Esri Export (E00) File dialog box or Import Esri Ungenerate File dialog box.
  3. Type a name for the layer in the Layer Name edit box and choose the type of layer from the radio list.
  4. If your input file uses coordinates other than longitude and latitude, click Coordinates to display the Import Coordinates dialog box, choose the appropriate coordinate system, and click OK. For more information, see Using Data in Other Coordinate Systems.
  5. Click OK. Maptitude displays the Save As dialog box.
  6. Type a file name for the geographic file and click Save.

Maptitude imports the data into a Maptitude geographic file, and displays the map layer in a new map window.

Importing AutoCAD DXF and DWG Files

AutoCAD is a computer-aided design (CAD) package that is used primarily for making technical drawings, but also for making maps. Maptitude can import AutoCAD DWG and DXF files Since many other software packages also import and export AutoCAD files, this format can be used to exchange data with dozens of other software packages.

When you import an AutoCAD file, you have several options for georeferencing the data. You can choose the coordinate system to use, you can open a map of the location where the data are located and use the Register AutoCAD Database toolbar to mark the true location of the data, or you can choose no georeferencing (center the data at 0,0 longitude/latitude).

Blue triangle iconTo Import a DXF or DWG File

  1. Choose File>Open or click File Open button icon on the Standard toolbar to display the File Open dialog box.
  2. Choose AutoCAD File as the file type, choose the file to import, and click Open. Maptitude scans the file and displays the Import AutoCAD File dialog box.
  3. Check the appropriate box for the layer type.
  4. Choose the layers to import from the scroll list.
  5. Because you can import more than one layer type, enter in the Output file prefix a prefix for the file names to import which will be appended with .point, .line, and/or .area.
  6. Click OK. Maptitude displays the Geographic Location dialog box for determining the correct location of your file. Choose how to locate your data as follows:
To do this... Do this...
Use a known coordinate system to locate the AutoCAD file Choose Let Me Choose the XY Coordinate System and click OK to display the Import Coordinates dialog box. Choose the appropriate coordinate system and click OK. For more information, see Using Data in Other Coordinate Systems.
Use a map to register the AutoCAD file Choose Let Me Choose the Location on a Map and click OK. Maptitude displays Create-a-Map Wizard.
  • Create a map of the area where the data you are importing are located. Maptitude displays it side-by-side with the imported AutoCAD file and opens the Register AutoCAD Database toolbar.
  • Click Add Control Point button and click on several control points on your imported AutoCAD layer.
  • Click on the map to make it active and then click True Location button and click on the corresponding locations on the general purpose map to mark the true longitude and latitude of the control points.
  • Click Continue in the Register AutoCAD Database toolbar.
Import the AutoCAD data centered at 0,0 longitude/latitude Choose I Don't Want to Georeference the Data and click OK.
  1. Maptitude displays the Choose a Folder dialog box. Choose a folder to store the imported layer(s) and click Select Folder.

Maptitude imports the data from the AutoCAD file into one or more Maptitude geographic files and displays the map layer(s) in a new map window.

Importing Esri Shapefiles

Esri’s ArcGIS and ArcView 3.x products can store geographic data in a file format called a Shapefile. Shapefiles contain the locations of point, line, or area features, and are linked to dBASE files that contain tabular data for each of the features. To ensure that tabular data for each feature match location information for features in the Shapefile, Esri requires that the order of features in the dBASE file match the order of features in the Shapefile. Maptitude, however, organizes information with geographic IDs. When you import a Shapefile, Maptitude makes sure it can link properly to the data in the Shapefile by generating a new .BIN tabular file that contains all original tabular data from the dBASE format file, along with each feature’s geographic ID.

Shapefiles support so-called multi-point and multi-line features, in which a group of features share a common ID. When you import these features, Maptitude assigns new, unique IDs to all features in the new file, and automatically generates a column of data containing the original multi-point or multi-line feature ID. You can then use the Dataview-Table-Join command to link the new geographic file to the attribute data.

Shapefiles support Z values and measures. Each coordinate in a point, line, or area can have, in addition to the X and Y values, a height (Z) value and another value (a measure, such as a time stamp). Maptitude puts Z values and measures for point and multi-point features into attribute fields, and ignores Z values and measures for other features.

Blue triangle iconTo Import Esri Shapefiles

  1. Choose File>Open or click File Open button icon on the Standard toolbar to display the File Open dialog box.
  2. Choose Esri Shapefile as the file type, choose the file to import, and click Open. Maptitude displays the Esri Shapefile dialog box.
  3. Type a name for the layer in the Layer Name edit box.
  4. Check the Import Layer box.
  5. If you are importing an area layer, check the Eliminate Duplicate Boundary Lines box to make the layer topological and choose how to handle overlaps from the radio list. Leave the box unchecked to keep the area layer non-topological.
  6. If your input file uses coordinates other than longitude and latitude, Maptitude attempts to format the coordinate system automatically. If this fails to work correctly, click Coordinates to display the Import Coordinates dialog box, choose the appropriate coordinate system, and click OK. For more information, see Using Data in Other Coordinate Systems.
  7. Click OK. Maptitude displays the Save As dialog box.
  8. Type a file name for the geographic file and click Save.

Maptitude imports the data into a Maptitude geographic file and displays the map layer in a new map window.

Importing Esri File Geodatabases

An Esri file geodatabase is a collection of files stored in a folder with a name of the form filename.gdb. If a file geodatabase contains more than one layer, you will need to import the layers one at a time.

Blue triangle iconTo Import Esri File Geodatabases

  1. Choose File>Open or click File Open button icon on the Standard toolbar to display the File Open dialog box.
  2. Choose ESRI File Geodatabase as the file type and choose a file geodatabase.
  3. Click Open. Maptitude displays the File Geodatabase dialog box.
  4. Highlight the layer to import in the in the Layers to Open list.
  5. Check the Import Layer box.
  6. If you are importing an area layer, check the Eliminate Duplicate Boundary Lines box to make the layer topological and choose how to handle overlaps from the radio list. Leave the box unchecked to keep the area layer non-topological.
  7. Click OK. Maptitude displays the Save As dialog box.
  8. Type a file name for the geographic file and click Save.

Maptitude imports the data into a Maptitude geographic file and displays the map layer in a new map window.

Importing ETAK MapBase Files

ETAK, now part of Tele Atlas, produced detailed street map files in their own MapBase format. Maptitude can import street features from these files. Simply choose the file you want to open.

Blue triangle iconTo Import Streets from an ETAK MapBase File

  1. Choose File>Open or click File Open button icon on the Standard toolbar to display the File Open dialog box.
  2. Choose Etak Streets as the file type, choose the file to import, and click Open. Maptitude displays the Save As dialog box.
  3. Type a name for the new geographic file and click Save.

Maptitude imports the data into a Maptitude geographic file, and displays the map layer in a new map window.

Importing Google Earth KML and KMZ Files

Maptitude can import map features stored in Google Earth kml and kmz files. Google Earth files can contain a mixture of points, lines, and areas. You can choose to keep the Google Earth folder structure if more than one layer of the same type are contained in the file, or you can merge layers of a similar type.

Blue triangle iconTo Import a Google Earth KML or KMZ File

  1. Choose File>Open or click File Open button icon on the Standard toolbar to display the File Open dialog box.
  2. Choose Google Earth Document as the file type, choose the file to import, and click Open. Maptitude displays the Import Google Earth File dialog box.
  3. Check the boxes for the types of layers to import.
  4. Check the Keep Folder Structure box to preserve the original folder file structure or leave it unchecked to combine layers of similar types into a single layer.
  5. Click OK to display the Choose a Directory dialog box.
  6. Choose a folder to store the imported files and click Select Folder.

Maptitude imports the layer(s) using the folder structure option you chose and displays the imported layer(s) in a new map.

Importing Intergraph Design (DGN) Files

The Intergraph Design (DGN) file is the standard data format used by Intergraph Corporation and Bentley Systems to natively store drawings. It is also known as the Intergraph Standard File Format.

When you import a DGN file, you choose the DGN level or levels you want to import. The level for each feature that you import is put into the Level field in the geographic file. Maptitude can import points and lines, but cannot directly import areas. Areas are imported as lines, and the lines can be converted to areas using the Tools>Line/Area Conversion command.

DGN files do not contain attribute data, but features have zero or more pointers to records in external databases. You can choose to use the first pointer for a feature, or choose a pointer for a particular database (entity number). The pointer value, which is always an integer, is put into the MSLink field in the geographic file.

There are three sets of units in a DGN file: raw, master, and sub units. Longitude and latitude coordinates are very rarely used as units, so you will normally need to specify a coordinate system. The master and sub units are indicated with an abbreviation, such as “ft” for feet. The default abbreviations are “MU” for the master units and “SU” for the sub units. It may be necessary to apply a scaling to convert to standard units, such as multiplying by 1000 to convert “KF” (thousands of feet) to feet. For example, if the DGN file has 1927 State Plane Coordinates, you would choose “ft” as the units, then click Coordinates, choose the appropriate State Plane Coordinate zone, and choose Feet as the coordinate units. See Using Data in Other Coordinate Systems for more information.

Blue triangle iconTo Import an Intergraph Design (DGN) File

  1. Choose File>Open or click File Open button icon on the Standard toolbar to display the File Open dialog box.
  2. Choose Intergraph DGN as the file type, choose the file to import, and click Open. Maptitude scans the file and displays the Import Intergraph Design File dialog box.
  3. Choose the units from the Units drop-down list. These units must be consistent with the units chosen when you click Coordinates to set the coordinate system. It may be necessary to apply a scaling to convert to consistent units.
  4. If the file has pointers to attribute data, choose Any or a particular entity number from the Entity Number drop-down list. Maptitude will use this to fill the MSLink field.
  5. Choose All Levels or any combination of levels to import. Maptitude will put the level number of each feature into the Level field.
  6. Type a name for the new layer in the Layer Name edit box and choose the layer type from the radio list.
  7. If your input file uses coordinates other than longitude and latitude, click Coordinates to display the Import Coordinates dialog box, choose the appropriate coordinate system, and click OK. For more information, see Using Data in Other Coordinate Systems.
  8. Click OK. Maptitude displays the Save As dialog box.
  9. Type a file name for the geographic file and click Save.

Maptitude imports the data into a Maptitude geographic file and displays the map layer in a new map window.

Importing MapInfo Interchange Format (MIF) Files

The MapInfo Interchange Format (MIF) is a geographic data format that was created by Pitney Bowes Business Insight (formerly MapInfo Corporation) as part of their MapInfo mapping products. Maptitude can easily import these files and their associated attribute (MID) files, complete with both geographic and tabular data.

Blue triangle iconTo Import a MapInfo Interchange Format (MIF) File

  1. Choose File>Open or click File Open button icon on the Standard toolbar to display the File Open dialog box.
  2. Choose MapInfo Interchange as the file type, choose the file to import, and click Open. Maptitude scans the file and displays the Import MapInfo Interchange File dialog box.
  3. Type a name for the layer in the Layer Name edit box.
  4. If you are importing an area layer, check the Eliminate Duplicate Boundary Lines box to make the layer topological and choose how to handle overlaps from the radio list. Leave the box unchecked to keep the area layer non-topological.
  5. If your input file uses coordinates other than longitude and latitude, Maptitude attempts to format the coordinate system automatically. If this fails to work correctly, click Coordinates to display the Import Coordinates dialog box, choose the appropriate coordinate system, and click OK. For more information, see Using Data in Other Coordinate Systems.
  6. Click OK. Maptitude displays the Save As dialog box.
  7. Type a file name for the geographic file and click Save.

Maptitude imports the data into a Maptitude geographic file, and displays the map layer in a new map window. If the MapInfo file contains any tabular data, they are also imported and displayed in a new dataview.

Importing MapPoint PTM Files, AutoRoute AXE Files, and Streets & Trips EST Files

You can import point and territory data from Microsoft MapPoint PTM files, AutoRoute AXE files, and Streets & Trips EST files provided that you have the respective program installed on the same computer. When you import point data, Maptitude creates a new point layer with the associated data fields. When you import territories, Maptitude imports the territory data and stores it in a Maptitude tabular format. Maptitude also launches the Territory Wizard which you can use to create a territory layer based on the geographic files provided with Maptitude.

Blue triangle iconTo Import a Microsoft MapPoint, AutoRoute, or Streets & Trips File

  1. Choose File>Open or click File Open button icon on the Standard toolbar to display the File Open dialog box.
  2. Choose MapPoint Map File or Microsoft Streets & Trips/AutoRoute File as the file type, choose the file to import, and click Open. Maptitude displays a dialog box with a grid view showing all of the layers it found in the file, the number of records in each layer, and the number of fields in each layer.
  3. Check the box in the Import column for each layer you want to import or click Select All to import all layers in the file.
  4. Click OK to display the Choose a Folder dialog box.
  5. Choose a folder and click Save.

If you chose to import point data, Maptitude creates a separate point database for each point layer in the folder you specified and displays a map with all of the imported layers.

If you chose to import territory data, Maptitude imports the data and displays the Territory Wizard which you can use to build territories from the provided Maptitude geographic data files. For more information, see Tagging Points by Area.

  1. Maptitude displays the results of the import. Click OK.

Importing Interim Terrain Data (ITD) Files

Interim Terrain Data (ITD) and Planning Interim Terrain Data (PITD) are digital geographic data products from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), formerly the U.S. National Imagery and Mapping Agency. Many of the ITD and PITD datasets are produced and shipped using the Standard Linear Format (SLF). Maptitude can easily import these files, complete with geographic and tabular data.

Blue triangle iconTo Import an ITD or PITD SLF File

  1. If the file does not have the .SLF extension, rename it so that it does.
  2. Choose File>Open or click File Open button icon on the Standard toolbar to display the File Open dialog box.
  3. Choose Interim Terrain Data as the File Type, choose the file to import, and click Open. Maptitude scans the file and displays the Import (Planning) Interim Terrain Data File dialog box.
  4. Type a name for the new layer in the Layer Name edit box and choose the layer type from the radio list.
  5. Click OK. Maptitude displays the Save As dialog box.
  6. Type a file name for the geographic file and click Save.

Maptitude imports the geographic and tabular data from the file into a Maptitude geographic file, and displays the map layer in a new map window.

Importing Vector Product Format (VPF) Files

Vector Product Format (VPF) is a U.S. military standard for storing digital geographic data. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), formerly the U.S. National Imagery and Mapping Agency, has produced many datasets using this format, including the Digital Chart of the World. The format is also used as the Vector Relational Format (VRF) of the NATO Digital Geographic Information Exchange Standard (DIGEST). Maptitude can easily import these files, complete with geographic and tabular data.

To import a VPF format file, you open the database header table file, which is always named dht with no file extension, and specify the geographic region you want to import. You can choose to import the entire file, or specify the region you want by entering a range of longitude and latitude values. When you import area features, the resulting geographic file may have holes (missing regions) due to topological errors in the original VPF database.

Blue triangle iconTo Import a VPF File

  1. Choose File>Open or click File Open button icon on the Standard toolbar to display the File Open dialog box.
  2. Choose Vector Product Format as the file type, choose the dht file of the VPF database to import, and click Open. Maptitude scans the database and displays the Import Vector Product Format File dialog box.
  3. Choose the library to import from the Library drop-down list.
  4. Choose the feature class to import from the Features drop-down list.
  5. To import a particular region, type the range of longitude and latitude values to import in the Area edit boxes.
  6. Type a name for the layer in the Layer Name edit box.
  7. Click OK. Maptitude displays the Save As dialog box.
  8. Type a file name for the geographic file and click Save.

Maptitude imports the geographic and tabular data from the file into a Maptitude geographic file, and displays the map layer in a new map window.

Importing Bureau of Transportation Statistics National Transportation Atlas Dataset Files

The National Transportation Atlas Dataset Format is a standard format for geographic data that was created by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). The NTAD format was first used with the 1996 National Transportation Atlas CD-ROM. Some inconsistencies have been found between the published standard and the CD-ROM, which prevent some datasets from translating correctly. Updated versions of the datasets are available from the BTS web site ( http://www.bts.gov/gis/ntatlas/ntad.html).

The NTAD format supports geographic databases for point, line, and area features. The geographic features are stored in one file for points (.pnt), three files for lines (.lnk, .nod and .geo) and two files for areas (.are and .geo). Maptitude can easily import these files and join them to their associated attribute files in dBASE (.dbf) format. Maptitude attempts to join your geographic files to their associated dbf attribute files, but you may have to manually join attributes using the FEATURID fields if the result is not satisfactory. For line layers, both link and node attributes can be present. Maptitude optionally allows just the node layer to be built.

Maptitude does not import attributes stored in fixed-format text files (.t??) because the standard does not specify any data dictionaries. The only field definitions available are in the Metadata (.met) file.

Blue triangle iconTo Import NTAD Files

  1. Choose File>Open or click File Open button icon on the Standard toolbar to display the File Open dialog box.
  2. Choose BTS Nat. Trans. Atlas as the file type, choose one of the files you want to import, and click Open. Maptitude displays the Import BTS National Transportation Atlas dialog box.
  3. Type a name for the layer in the Layer Name edit box and choose the layer type from the radio list.
  4. Click OK. Maptitude displays the Save As dialog box.
  5. Type a name for the geographic file and click Save.

Maptitude imports the data into a Maptitude geographic file and displays the map layer in a new map window.

Importing OpenStreetMap (OSM) files

Maptitude can easily import OpenStreetMap (.osm) files, complete with geographic and tabular data.

Blue triangle iconTo Import OSM Files

  1. Choose File>Open or click File Open button icon on the Standard toolbar to display the File Open dialog box.
  2. Choose OpenStreetMap as the file type, choose a file to import, and click Open. Maptitude displays the Import OpenStreetMap dialog box.
  3. Check the boxes for the types of features you want to import.
  4. Highlight the layers in the grid that you want to import or click Select All to highlight all of the layers.
  5. Enter a prefix to use for all of the generated output files.
  6. For Highway line layers only, you can choose to check the Create node when highway lines intersect box. Because some OSM streets are digitized as a single line from one end of a neighborhood to another rather than as separate lines, you can ensure that at every location where streets cross a node will be created.
  7. Click OK. Maptitude displays the Choose a Folder dialog box.
  8. Choose a folder into which to save the imported files and click Select Folder. Maptitude imports the chosen layer(s), displays a map containing the layer(s), and displays a dialog box showing the results of the import.
  9. Click Close to close the OSM Import Results dialog box.

Importing Ordnance Survey NTF Files

Ordnance Survey sells digital map data for Great Britain (England, Scotland, and Wales). Maptitude imports both geographic and tabular data for many of the Ordnance Survey data products, which are provided in the NTF format and have a file extension of .NTF. The following NTF data products are supported:

Product Feature Type
ADDRESS-POINT Point
BaseData.GB Point and line
Boundary-Line Area
Land-Line Point and line
Land-Form PROFILE Contours Point and line
Land-Form PROFILE DTM Point
Land-Form PANORAMA Contours Point and line
Land-Form PANORAMA DTM Point
Meridian Point and line
OSCAR Asset-Manager Point and line
OSCAR Network-Manager Line
OSCAR Route-Manager Line
Strategi Point and line
Urban-Areas.91 Area

Note that the following non-NTF Ordnance Survey products can also be used with Maptitude, using the British National Grid coordinate system:

Product Feature Type
1:10,000 Scale Black and White Raster TIFF image
1:50,000 Scale Color Raster TIFF image
1:50,000 Scale Gazetteer Fixed-format ASCII text
ADDRESS-POINT Comma-separated text
Land-Line DXF

The following coverages can be built from a Boundary-Line data set:

• Civil Parishes • Districts • Foreshores
• Counties • Electoral Divisions • Sea and Non-England
• District Wards • European Constituencies • Westminster Constituencies


For point and line databases, multiple NTF tiles can be combined into a single database. For area databases, only a single tile can be translated.

When a line database is built from any of the OSCAR data products, a node attribute table (file name + n.bin) is also built. This table can be manually linked to the node geography using the ID field.

Separate files are shipped with the Urban-Area.91 product for the 1981 and 1991 boundaries.

All data sets distributed as multiple volumes (diskettes or tapes) must first be copied onto a hard disk with a different file name for each volume before they can be imported. The file names must be in increasing lexicographic order, such as: T2105_1.NTF, T2105_2.NTF,..., T2105_7.NTF. All volumes of the data set must be selected or the import will fail.

When more than one file is selected, the list of files will be sorted automatically. This will order the volumes of a multi-volume data set correctly assuming the naming convention was followed.

All the files selected to be imported should be from the same product, otherwise only files with the same product type as the first file will be imported.

Blue triangle iconTo Import Ordnance Survey NTF Files

  1. Choose File>Open or click File Open button icon on the Standard toolbar to display the File Open dialog box.
  2. Choose Ordnance Survey as the file type, choose the first volume (file) of the data set to import, and click Open. Maptitude displays the Import Ordnance Survey Data Files dialog box.
  3. Click Add File to add files to the import list.
  4. Click Add All to add all NTF files to the list in the same folder as the highlighted file.
  5. Click Drop File to remove the highlighted file from the import list.
  6. For the Boundary-Line product, choose the coverage you want from the Coverage drop-down list.
  7. Type a name for the new layer in the Layer Name edit box.
  8. Choose the layer type from the radio list.
  9. Click OK. Maptitude displays the Save As dialog box.
  10. Type a file name for the new geographic file and click Save.

Maptitude imports the data into a Maptitude geographic file, and displays the map layer in a new map window.

Importing Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS) Files

The purpose of the Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS) is to promote and facilitate the transfer of digital spatial data between dissimilar computer systems, while preserving information meaning and minimizing the need for information external to the transfer. The SDTS provides a framework for creating profiles for transferring vector or raster geographic data. Maptitude imports data from three of the vector profiles:

  • Topological Vector Profile: used to define points, lines, and areas as a planar graph (i.e., all lines intersect)
  • Point Profile: a simpler format than the Topological Vector Profile, which transfers point data with more accuracy
  • Transportation Network Profile: a 1997 draft used for transferring non-planar line data, especially for highway and other transportation networks

All SDTS files have a .ddf extension. The first four characters of the file name is the dataset name, and the remaining four characters give the module name. An SDTS file may have one or more themes; you will need to import each theme separately. The Topological Vector Profile does not specify whether the SDTS file contains points, lines, or areas; you will need to choose which type of layer to import. When importing lines you may need to import lines and nodes separately.

When you import from the Raster Profile, most image data are used natively, and grid data are saved into a grid geographic file.

You will not need to specify a coordinate system, but you can change the datum among NAD27, NAD83 and NAD83hp. The datum of the SDTS file is shown in the Import Spatial Data Transfer Standard dialog box.

The profiles can include primary and secondary attribute data in one or more files, including tables with metadata to describe the transfer and tables with codes and their descriptions. The metadata will be put into a .met file that can be displayed in Maptitude.

SDTS does not require a catalog to show how the attribute data files relate to the point, line, or area features, or to groupings of those features. Maptitude puts all of the attribute data into .bin files, named by adding the four characters of the module name to the file name that you specify for the geographic file. You can then open these tables into dataviews and join them to the appropriate geographic files.

Some groups of SDTS files, such as USGS DLGs, use an external master data dictionary in common. You will need to have a copy of the appropriate files to import those data. Maptitude will prompt you to locate the external data dictionary.

Blue triangle iconTo Import Vector Spatial Data Transfer Standard Files

  1. Choose File>Open or click File Open button icon on the Standard toolbar to display the File Open dialog box.
  2. Choose Spatial Data Transfer Standard as the file type, choose a vector SDTS file to import, and click Open. Maptitude displays the Import Spatial Data Transfer Standard dialog box.
  3. If a theme is present, choose the theme from the Theme drop-down list.
  4. Type a name for the new layer or use the default in the Layer Name edit box.
  5. Choose the type of layer to import from the radio list.
  6. Click Coordinates to display the Import Coordinates dialog box. Choose the datum conversion from Datum Conversion drop-down list. Click OK to close the Import Coordinates dialog box.
  7. Click OK. Maptitude displays the Save As dialog box.
  8. Type a file name and click OK.

Maptitude imports the data into a Maptitude geographic file and displays the map layer in a new map window. Maptitude also creates tabular data files for all of the attribute files in the SDTS file.

Importing Strategic Mapping (Atlas) BNA Files

Strategic Mapping’s Atlas GIS software (later distributed by Esri) used Boundary ASCII (BNA) format files for importing and exporting geographic data. Maptitude can easily import these files, complete with both geographic and tabular data.

BNA files are either tab-delimited or comma-delimited and contain between one and four attribute fields. You choose the delimiter and number of fields when you create the BNA file from a Strategic Mapping software product. When importing a BNA file, you must indicate the delimiter that was used and the number of attribute fields contained in the file.

Blue triangle iconTo Import an Atlas BNA File

  1. Choose File>Open or click File Open button icon on the Standard toolbar to display the File Open dialog box.
  2. Choose Atlas BNA as the file type, choose the file to import, and click Open. Maptitude scans the file and displays the Import Atlas BNA File dialog box.
  3. Choose the number of attribute fields from the drop-down list.
  4. Check the Tab Delimited box if the file is tab delimited
  5. Type a name for the new layer in the Layer Name edit box.
  6. Choose the type of layer from the Layer Type to Import radio list.
  7. Check the Eliminate duplicate boundary lines box. You may need to remove the check to import very large area layers without memory limitations.
  8. For area layers, choose how to handle overlapping areas from the radio list.
  9. If your input file uses coordinates other than longitude and latitude, click Coordinates to display the Import Coordinates dialog box, choose the appropriate coordinate system, and click OK. For more information, see Using Data in Other Coordinate Systems.
  10. Click OK. Maptitude displays the Save As dialog box.
  11. Type a file name for the geographic file and click Save.

Maptitude imports the data from the file into a Maptitude geographic file and displays the map layer in a new map window. Any tabular data in the BNA file are also imported and displayed in a new dataview.

Importing Text Files

Maptitude imports geographic data from comma-separated text files. These files, which contain the location and shape of map features, can be created using a text editor, word processor, or the File-Export-Geography command. Text files normally contain coordinates in degrees of longitude and latitude, but they can also have data stored in other coordinate systems. Maptitude can store up to six decimal places of longitude and latitude.

Text files for points have one row for each feature. The row contains the feature ID, the longitude, and the latitude.

52,-72.3673,41.8834

53,-101.378255,32.12337

54,-118.0902,39.3242

 

Text files for lines have one row for each feature. The row contains the feature ID, the number of points that make up the line, and the longitude and latitude of each point.

48,3,-82.8004,32.9364,-82.6068,32.9346,-82.5544,32.9363

49,4,-82.5544,32.9363,-82.5254,32.9356,-18.5210,32.9357,-82.1167,32.9266

50,3,-82.1167,32.9266,-82.9691,32.7703,-81.9544,32.7277

 

Optionally, text files for lines can contain a direction flag and the IDs of the from and to nodes. When importing lines, you can click Options to indicate whether the text file has these fields, what positions they are in, and where the coordinates start. For example, these lines have a direction flag in position 4, from and to nodes starting in position 2, and coordinates (starting with the number of points that make up the line) in starting in position 5:

48,121,254,0,3,-82.8004,32.9364,-82.6068,32.9346,-82.5544,32.9363

49,121,174,1,4,-82.5544,32.9363,-82.5254,32.9356,-18.5210,32.9357,-82.1167,32.9266

50,157,254,-1,3,-82.1167,32.9266,-82.9691,32.7703,-81.9544,32.7277

 

Text files for areas have one row for every boundary edge. The row contains the ID of the feature to the left of the boundary edge, the ID of the feature to the right of the boundary edge, the number of points that make up the edge, and the longitude and latitude of each point. Use “0” (zero) as the ID on sides where there is no feature.

48107,48303,4,-91.5630,33.8304,-91.5573,33.4636,-91.5572,33.4563,-91.5562,33.3950

48303,0,2,-92.0751,33.3888,-91.5562,33.3950

0,48303,3,-92.0751,33.3888,-92.0810,33.6348,-92.0855,33.8243

48189,48303,3,-92.0855,33.8243,-91.7319,33.8285,-91.5630,33.8304

 

Blue triangle iconTo Import Geographic Data from a Text File

  1. Choose File>Open or click File Open button icon on the Standard toolbar to display the File Open dialog box.
  2. Choose Text/Geography as the file type, choose the file to import, and click Open. Maptitude scans the file and displays the Import Text/Geography File dialog box.
  3. Type a name for the layer in the Layer Name edit box and choose the layer type from the radio list.
  4. If your input file contains lines with a direction flag and/or the IDs of the from and to nodes that you want to import, click Options to display the Line Options dialog box. If you import either the direction flag or the node IDs, you must also specify the position for the coordinates. Make choices as follows:
To do this... Do this...
Import a direction flag Check the Direction box and choose the field position from its Position spinner
Import node IDs Check the Node ID box and choose the field position from its Position spinner
Specify the coordinates position Choose the position of the field that contains the number of points from the Coordinates Position spinner

When you have made your choices, click OK to return to the Import Text/Geography File dialog box.

  1. If your input file uses coordinates other than longitude and latitude, click Coordinates to display the Import Coordinates dialog box, choose the appropriate coordinate system, and click OK. For more information, see Using Data in Other Coordinate Systems.
  2. Click OK. Maptitude displays the Save As dialog box.
  3. Type a file name for the geographic file and click Save.

Maptitude imports the data from the text file into a Maptitude geographic file and displays the map layer in a new map window.

Importing U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line® Files

TIGER/Line files, produced by the U.S. Census Bureau, contain streets of the U.S., boundaries of states, counties, census tracts, block groups, and blocks, and other geographic features and areas.

Blue triangle iconTo Import TIGER/Line Files

  1. Choose File>Open or click File Open button icon on the Standard toolbar to display the File Open dialog box.
  2. Choose TIGER/Line as the file type and choose one or more files to import. If you are going to import all the files in the folder, just choose one now and use the Add All button later.
  3. Click Open. Maptitude displays the TIGER/Line Import dialog box.
  4. Choose the TIGER/Line version from the drop-down list.
  5. Choose the type of layer to create.
  6. Click Add File to add files to the import list or click Add All to add all of the files in a folder. Click Drop File to drop a highlighted file from the list.
  7. Type a name for the new layer in the Layer Name edit box.
  8. Choose a datum conversion from the drop-down list.
  9. Check the Copy files to hard disk box to use a temporary work space and type the name of the folder to use.
  10. Make additional choices:
For this type of layer... Do this...
Line Type a name for the node layer in the Node Layer Name text box
Area Check the Drop Water Polygons box to import the area with holes where there are water blocks or remove the check to leave water blocks as part of the areas
  1. Click OK. Maptitude displays the Save As dialog box.
  2. Type a file name for the geographic file and click Save.

Maptitude imports the data into a Maptitude geographic file and displays the map layer in a new map window.

Importing U.S. Geological Survey Digital Elevation Model (DEM) Files

The Digital Elevation Model (DEM) format is a standard format developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to store vertical elevation data for points located on a regular grid. Each file contains all the elevations for one tile and overlaps each of its neighbors by either one row or column. Maptitude easily converts one or more DEM files into a point or grid geographic file. USGS provides five different DEM products:

  • 7.5-Minute DEM, using a 30- x 30-meter data spacing on a Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) grid at the 1:24,000 map scale for the conterminous United States and Hawaii and the 1:20,000 map scale for Puerto Rico. Coverage is currently incomplete. Each file provides the same coverage as a standard 7.5-minute quadrangle.
  • 7.5-Minute Alaska DEM, using a 2- x 1-arc-second data spacing on a longitude-latitude grid for Alaska. Coverage is currently incomplete. The longitudinal cell limits vary from 10 minutes at the southernmost latitude to 18 minutes at the northernmost latitude.
  • 15-Minute DEM, using a 2- x 2-arc-second data spacing on a longitude-latitude grid at the 1:100,000 map scale for the conterminous United States and Hawaii. Coverage is currently incomplete. Each file provides the same coverage as an eighth of a standard 1:100,000-scale quadrangle.
  • 15-Minute Alaska DEM, using a 3- x 2-arc-second data spacing on a longitude-latitude grid at the 1:63,360 map scale for Alaska. Coverage is currently incomplete. The longitudinal cell limits vary from 20 minutes at the southernmost latitude to 36 minutes at the northernmost latitude. Each file provides the same coverage as a 1:63,360-scale quadrangle.
  • 1-Degree DEM, using a 3- x 3-arc-second data spacing on a longitude-latitude grid at the 1:250,000 map scale for the United States. Coverage is complete. Each file provides the same coverage as one half (one third in some regions of Alaska) of a standard 1- x 2-degree quadrangle.

In addition, Maptitude supports three other DEM formats:

  • GTOPO30, a worldwide DEM using a 30- x 30-arc-second data spacing on a longitude-latitude grid.
  • NOAA’s National Geophysical Data Census (NGDC) GRD98 format used for the coastal relief model which includes both elevation and bathymetry data.
  • NGA’s Digital Terrain Elevation Data (DTED®) is a DEM format using the file extensions .DT0, .DT1, and .DT2 for Levels 0, 1, and 2.

The DTED format is used for the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission DEM data, with coverage between 60N and 56S latitudes in February 2000. The horizontal datum is WGS84 and the vertical datum is the mean sea level of the EGM 96 geoid. Elevation is based on the reflective surface, which may be the ground, structures, or vegetation. DTED Level 2 elevations are one arc second apart between 0 and 50 degrees latitude, and one arc second apart in latitude and two arc seconds apart in longitude between 50 and 60 degrees latitude. SRTM DTED Level 1 values are the SRTM DTED 2 values spaced 3 arc seconds apart between 0 and 50 degrees latitude, and spaced 3 arc seconds apart in latitude and 6 arc seconds apart in longitude between 50 and 60 degrees latitude. For more information see http://edcsns17.cr.usgs.gov/srtmdted/.

You have a choice of two formats for storing the DEM. A point geographic file stores each elevation as a point feature in a standard (.dbd) geographic file. You will be able to edit the points, but the file will be large. A grid geographic file uses the compact (.cdf) format file, which stores the elevations much more efficiently and displays more quickly. When Maptitude prompts you for a file name, the default file type is Compact Geographic File. You can choose Standard Geographic File if you wish to create a point geographic file instead. Elevation units are standardized to meters.

Blue triangle iconTo Import DEM Files

  1. Choose File>Open or click File Open button icon on the Standard toolbar to display the File Open dialog box.
  2. Choose Digital Elevation Model as the file type, choose one or more of the files you want to import, and click Open. Maptitude displays the Import Digital Elevation Model dialog box.
  3. Click Add File to add files to the import list or click Add All to add all of the files in a folder. Click Drop File to drop a highlighted file from the list.
  4. Type a name for the new layer in the Layer Name edit box.
  5. Click OK. Maptitude displays the Save As dialog box.
  6. Choose the type of file to create from the Files of Type drop-down list:
To do this... Do this...
Create a grid geographic file Choose Compact Geographic File
Create a point geographic file Choose Standard Geographic File
  1. Type a file name for the geographic file and click Save.

Maptitude imports the data into a Maptitude geographic file and displays the map layer in a new map window. All elevation units will be converted to meters.

Importing U.S. Geological Survey Digital Line Graph (DLG) format files

The Digital Line Graph (DLG) is a standard format for vector geographic data developed by USGS to store digital versions of their topographic maps. The format is sometimes referred to as DLG-3. The DLG standard specifies three record formats: Standard, Optional, and Geographic. Maptitude supports all three formats.

Each USGS DLG file contains all the entities of a particular feature class digitized from a single topographic map. The maps are rectangular and can be tiled together nicely, except for their 1:2,000,000 scale product, which consists of regional groups of states. Given multiple adjoining files, Maptitude can import them together to create a single geographic database for a larger region.

In early DLG releases, no edge matching across tiles was performed. Therefore, line and area features which cross a tile boundary in these files would not usually connect correctly with the continuation of the feature on the adjoining tile. To correct these edge-matching problems, Maptitude lets you specify whether features on tile boundaries should be snapped. If this option is enabled, nodes on the same tile edge within a specified tolerance will be snapped together. The 1:2,000,000-scale product is not edge-matched. Unfortunately, since the product is not tiled, Maptitude cannot fix this problem. DLG coverages for the 1990 and 1995 releases are instead grouped by state.

Attributes in DLG files are stored as one or more pairs of integers for each entity, called major and minor pairs. The first integer indicates the type of attribute and the second its value. Maptitude processes the attributes to convert them to a more usable form. You can, however, choose to disable attribute conversion so that the attribute data remain in raw form (major and minor pairs).

Common extensions for DLG files are .dlg, .opt, .std, .lgo and .lgs. Files with other extensions must be renamed before they can be imported.

Blue triangle iconTo Import DLG Files

  1. Choose File>Open or click File Open button icon on the Standard toolbar to display the File Open dialog box.
  2. Choose Digital Line Graph as the file type, choose one or more files to import, and click Open. Maptitude displays the Import Digital Line Graph dialog box.
  3. Click Add File to add files to the import list or click Add All to add all of the files in a folder. Click Drop File to drop a highlighted file from the list.
  4. Type a name for the new layer in the Layer Name edit box.
  5. Choose the type of layer to import from the radio list.
  6. Check the Snap Boundary Edges box to snap features on tile boundaries and enter a tolerance.
  7. Check the Process Attributes box to process attributes or leave it unchecked so that they remain in raw form.
  8. Click OK. Maptitude displays the Save As dialog box.
  9. Type a file name for the geographic file and click Save.

Maptitude imports the data into a Maptitude geographic file and displays the map layer in a new map window.

Importing U.S. Geological Survey Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) files

 Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) is an older product from the U.S. Geological Survey that shows how land is used or what type of vegetation covers it, including forest land, agricultural land, wetland, urban or built-up land, water, rangeland, and barren land. The data, stored in digital format, are organized by 1:250,000- or 1:100,000-scale quadrangles. The source of the data is aerial photography from the 1970’s and mid-1980’s. Besides the land use information, each dataset contains reference layers, which include Census Tracts, Counties, Federal Land, Hydrographic Regions, and State Land. These can also be imported by Maptitude.

The Land Use and Land Cover product uses the Geographic Information Retrieval Analysis System (GIRAS) format. Maptitude can easily import one or more GIRAS (.gir) files and produce an area database.

Blue triangle iconTo Import LULC Files

  1. Choose File>Open or click File Open button icon on the Standard toolbar to display the File Open dialog box.
  2. Choose Land Use & Land Cover as the file type, choose one or more files to import, and click Open. Maptitude displays the Import Geographic Information Retrieval Analysis System dialog box.
  3. Click Add File to add files to the import list or click Add All to add all of the files in a folder. Click Drop File to drop a highlighted file from the list.
  4. Type a name for the new layer in the Layer Name edit box.
  5. Check the Snap Boundary Edges box to snap features on tile boundaries and enter a tolerance.
  6. Click OK. Maptitude displays the Save As dialog box.
  7. Type a file name for the geographic file and click Save.

Maptitude imports the data into a Maptitude geographic file and displays the map layer in a new map window.

 

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