You can add data to your map that is stored in a delimited text file (.csv or .txt) or a GPS Exchange Format file (.gpx). The map viewer adds the location information, draws features on the map for each item in the file, and stores the information in the map as a layer. Once you've added your file to the map, you can edit the properties of the layer that is created. For example, you can configure pop-ups, change symbols, set the visibility range, enable editing, and remove pop-ups.
CSV and TXT files
You can add data from a comma-separated values text file (.csv) or delimited text file (.txt) that includes latitude and longitude or address information. To add this data as a feature layer, the file must include at least one pair of coordinate fields or one or more address fields. The first row must contain the location field names. If your file has latitude and longitude fields, these are used to locate the features on the map. If your file has address information, or if the latitude and longitude information cannot be determined by the map viewer, you are prompted to review the location fields and change them, if necessary.
The following fields are supported:
- Latitude, Longitude
- Lat, Long
- Longitude83, Latitude83
- Longdecdeg, Latdecdeg
- Long_dd, Latdd
- Lng
- Y, X
- Ycenter, Xcenter
- Xcenter, Ycenter
- Point-y, Point-x
- Point-x, Point-y
- Address
- City
- State
- ZIP
- Date
Date and time in CSV files
Date fields in CSV files are assumed to contain Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) date and time. Dates are assumed to be UTC because the physical location of the server hosting your data can be anywhere in the world. The alternative of storing date and time in a local time zone leads to all sorts of problems, especially if you, or the server hosting your data, move to another time zone.
Whenever a date field is displayed, the date is converted from UTC time into your local time. This is done by querying your computer and asking it for its time zone setting. For example, suppose your computer is set to pacific standard time (PST). PST is eight hours behind UTC—when UTC time is 10:00 AM, it is 2:00 AM PST.
When you publish a hosted feature layer from a CSV, you can specify the time zone of the data. The specified time zone is used to mitigate the offset because Portal for ArcGIS assumes date and time data to be in UTC. For example, when a CSV containing date fields is published with pacific standard time selected as the time zone, all date and time values in your CSV will have eight hours added as part of the conversion to UTC.
If the date fields in your CSV file contain a date but not a time value, a time value of midnight is assigned when you publish a hosted feature layer. Therefore, if you don't specify a time zone when you publish, your data will be stored with a time value of midnight (UTC). When you view the data, time will be converted to the local time, potentially changing the date. For example, 7/28/2009 0:00 is midnight (UTC) on July 28th, 2009. If you view the data from a computer in pacific standard time zone, the date and time will be displayed as 7/27/2009 16:00. Specifying the time zone when you publish eliminates this offset when viewed in the time zone specified.
Supported date and time formats include the following:
| Format | Example |
|---|---|
M/DD/YYYY | 7/28/2009 |
M/DD/YYYY 12-hour time | 7/28/2009 5:23 AM or 7/28/2009 05:23 AM |
M/DD/YYYY 24-hour time | 7/28/2009 5:23 or 7/28/2009 05:23 |
M/DD/YY | 7/28/09 |
M/DD/YY 12-hour time | 7/28/09 5:23 AM or 7/28/09 05:23 AM |
M/DD/YY 24-hour time | 7/28/09 5:23 or 7/28/09 05:23 |
MM/DD/YY | 07/28/09 |
MM/DD/YY 12-hour time | 07/28/09 5:23 AM or 07/28/09 05:23 AM |
MM/DD/YY 24-hour time | 07/28/09 5:23 or 07/28/09 05:23 |
MM/DD/YYYY | 07/28/2009 |
MM/DD/YYYY 12-hour time | 07/28/2009 5:23 AM or 7/28/2009 05:23 AM |
MM/DD/YYYY 24-hour time | 07/28/2009 5:23 or 7/28/2009 05:23 |
Month DD, YYYY | July 28, 2009 |
Day of week, Month DD, YYYY | Tuesday, July 28, 2009 |
Day of week, Month DD, YYYY 12-hour time | Tuesday, July 28, 2009 5:23 AM or Tuesday, July 28, 2009 05:23 AM |
Month DD, YYYY 12-hour time | July 28, 2009 5:23 AM or July 28, 2009 05:23 AM |
Month DD, YYYY 24-hour time | July 28, 2009 5:23 or July 28, 2009 05:23 |
Month DD | July 28 |
Month, YYYY | July, 2009 |
Note:
If a field configured as a date field contains an unsupported or invalid format, the field will be created as string data type in the resulting hosted feature layer.
Considerations for publishing date fields in CSV files
- The Time Zone drop-down menu appears on the Item from my computer window even if your CSV file does not contain date fields.
- When you specify a time zone when you publish a CSV file, the selected time zone is applied to all date and time values that exist in the CSV file at the time you publish or when overwriting the feature layer.
- If you want to apply a time zone only to individual records, you can specify an offset from UTC for the respective record. For example, if you had a date value of Tuesday, July 28, 2009 5:23 AM+8, that reflects a time zone that is eight hours ahead of UTC. See www.worldtimezone.com for a list of the world's time zones. When the time zone is specified per record in the CSV file, a time zone selected during publishing is applied to those records that do not have an offset specified.
- If you alter date fields in the feature layer you published, including if you alter the hosted feature layer to Keep track of who created and last updated features, the date fields capture values in the editor's local time and convert to UTC with the time offset applied.
- When you export data from a hosted feature layer for which you specified a time zone when you published, no offset is applied. Data is exported in UTC format, which effectively maintains the time zone you selected when publishing.
- Only standard time zones are available in the Time Zone list when publishing. However, daylight savings time is automatically applied if a date value in your CSV falls within daylight savings time and the selected time zone recognizes daylight savings time.
Considerations for adding CSV and TXT files to the map viewer
- The more address fields you include, the more accurate your geocoding results will be. For example, address and ZIP Code will yield better results than just address.
- The address field can contain multiple parts of an address (sometimes called single-line geocoding).
- Fields can be separated with a comma, semicolon, or tab. Other separators are not supported.
- Latitude and longitude information needs to be in decimal degrees.
- The map viewer may not be able to create a layer from the file if the file contains more spaces than separators in the field names (the first line of the file). Remove some spaces in the field names and try adding the file again.
- Order and case does not matter (for example, you could have 519 East 86 Street, New York, NY, 10028 or new york,10028,519 east 86 street,ny.
- If your file contains addresses, the first 1,000 rows of features are displayed. (Only the first 250 rows of features are displayed if you are not signed in to the portal.) You can add a larger number of features to your map by publishing the CSV as a hosted feature layer and adding the hosted feature layer to the map viewer.
- The 1,000 feature limit does not apply if the file you add to the map viewer contains latitude and longitude information.
- Date fields included in the CSV or text file must be in the format MM/DD/YYYY or DD/MM/YYYY, with any separator between the numbers representing the day, month, and year. If time is included in the date, it must be 24-hour time in the format HH:MM:SS, with any separator between the numbers.
- Use Firefox or Chrome to drag and drop your file directly onto the map.
- If your data contains non-English characters, for example, characters specific to the French, Russian, Greek, Japanese, or Arabic alphabets, the file you import must be encoded as Unicode or UTF-8, and not ASCII. If you import an ASCII-encoded file containing non-English characters, it may display attribute values using unexpected characters. You can save a text file as UTF-8 or Unicode in Windows. Open the file in a text editor such as Notepad, click File > Save As, and choose UTF-8 or Unicode from the Encoding drop-down menu shown at the bottom of the Save As dialog box.
- If your CSV or TXT file is stored on a publicly accessible website and contains latitude and longitude information, you can reference it as a layer on the web. Whenever the map is opened, it shows the latest data from your file. You can add a .csv or .txt file from the web that contains address information, but the file will be stored with the map. Any updates you make to the original .csv or .txt on the web won't be reflected in the map.
- If you are adding a CSV file from the web that includes number fields with decimals, the decimal characters in your file should match the format that your system language supports. For example, if your system is set to English, your file should use periods as decimals. If you system is set to French, your file should use commas as decimals.
- When a CSV file containing latitude and longitude information is added to a map, the latitude, longitude coordinates are converted to the spatial reference of the current basemap.
- You can add and share a CSV file (including one with address information) as an item on the website for others to download. The file cannot be viewed with the map viewer.
GPX files
You can capture data with a GPS device and use a third-party tool or GPS manufacturer utility to convert the data to a file in GPS Exchange Format (.gpx). Once you have a GPX file, you can add it to the map viewer to visualize the data. The following types of data are supported in the map viewer:
- Waypoints—These are points that the GPS user recorded manually, often specifying a name, to mark locations on the map.
- Tracks—These are points the GPS device recorded automatically at a periodic interval. Tracks are rendered as linear features.
- Routes—These are points the GPS device used to navigate to a specified location. Routes are rendered as linear features.
GPX files can contain multiple layers showing waypoints, tracks, and routes.
If no symbol is specified or if the symbol isn't part of a symbol set included in the map viewer, a default waypoint symbol is used.
Note that you can add GPX files to the map viewer, but you cannot add them as items in My Content.