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Upload a Layer

A guide to uploading your custom data to PiinPoint

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Written by Amanda Maze
Updated over a year ago

Quick Reference

  • Use the Layers Panel to upload, store, and visualize your custom data.

  • The two main layer types are Regular and Candidate. Candidate layers include the ability to toggle the status of locations as they move through your review process.

  • If you are uploading data, each row in your data should have an address. You can also include any other relevant information about the site.

  • For Regular Layers, you can select a column that can be used to categorize your locations. This allows you to visualize and filter your locations based on the custom categorization.

Introduction

Layers are an incredibly versatile feature allowing you to store and visualize your custom data as needed. They can be used to save trade areas or addresses that you create within PiinPoint, or they can be used for custom data that you upload to PiinPoint. This guide will show you how to upload your custom data as a regular or candidate layer.

Data and Formatting Requirements

To upload a list of locations to PiinPoint, the minimum amount of information you need to include is their geolocation (coordinates or addresses).

File Format

You can upload CSV, Excel, GeoJSON, Shapefile, and TAB files. Your column headers must be in the very top row of the file.

Address Formatting

There are multiple ways you can format your addresses. Coordinates are the most accurate, but there is a lot of flexibility offered for uploading regular address fields.

Latitude Longitude

The most accurate is using latitude and longitude coordinates. If you include these, make sure you have one column for latitude and one column for longitude. The columns should be named Latitude and Longitude respectively.

Address Fields

You can have one column with the full address, or you can break the address fields into multiple columns. At a minimum you need to include one address field such as city or zip code, but the more information you provide on the address the more accurate the geocoding will be. Both of the below formats would work well.

Note: The column names for the address fields do not need to match a specific naming convention.

Adding Additional Fields

As you can see in the above screenshots, columns with additional site details can be included in your file. In this example, I want to be able to view where our closed sites were located. I also want to be able to distinguish these locations based on why they were closed.

💪 Pro Tip: The order of the columns in your file will determine the order that the fields are displayed within PiinPoint. Make sure the most important fields are on the left-hand side of your file.

Uploading Your Data

To get started on uploading a layer, open the Layers panel and click the + New Layer button at the bottom of the panel.

If you are uploading a Regular Layer, select the option to Upload Existing Dataset without toggling any of the layer upload options provided.

If you are uploading a Candidate Layer, toggle that option to YES and then select Upload Existing Dataset.

Upload your file.

If you are uploading a Regular Layer, next you can choose whether to categorize your locations.

  • If you would like the locations in your layer to be displayed and sorted based on a custom categorization, select Color Based on Category. Use the drop-down to select the column that should be used to categorize your locations. In my example, I want the locations to be displayed differently if they were closed because of poor performance or for relocation, so I have chosen the Close Reason column.

  • If you want all locations to be visualized in the same way, select Single Color.

Note: This screen will not appear if you are uploading a Candidate Layer since the categorization will automatically be set to Site Status.

💪 Pro Tip: The categorization that you chose will also allow you to filter the locations displayed on your map based on their category.

On the next screen, use the drop-down to select all of the address fields that should be used to geocode your locations. If your address is broken up into multiple fields, make sure the fields are listed in the order of:

  1. Street Address

  2. City / Town

  3. State / Province

  4. Zip Code/ Postal Code

  5. Country

Note: This field selector will not appear if your file uses Latitude and Longitude. The uploader will automatically pick up on those columns if they are named correctly.

Once you click on Start Geocoding your layer will be uploaded!

Viewing your Uploaded Layer

Once your layer has been uploaded you can find it in your Layers Panel. It will be the last layer listed in your layers panel, so you can use the page toggle to navigate to the end of your layers panel. The name of the layer will match the name of the file that was uploaded. You can click on the layer name to rename it.

Finally, toggle the layer to ON to see the points displayed on your map!

If you still have questions, use the search bar at the top or contact your Customer Success Manager via Chat or email support@piinpoint.com.

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