Importing a road inventory

Admins only. Everyone can see the list of past imports. Only an admin can run one.

If you already keep a road inventory, you do not retype it. The import reads your file, matches each of your sections onto the blocks it runs along, and shows you exactly what it will do. Nothing is saved until you have read that and pressed the import button.

It is in Settings, on the Roads tab, under Import a road inventory.

What you need

One file, up to 50 MB, in one of three forms:

• A zipped shapefile. Zip the .shp, .shx, .dbf and .prj files together. The .prj file says where the coordinates are; without it the app asks you for the coordinate system's EPSG code.
• A GeoJSON file of road lines.
• A CSV with a column holding each road's shape as WKT text. A column named WKT or geometry is found without being asked for. If yours has another name, the app lists the file's columns and asks which one it is.

Each row should be one section, drawn as a line. A file may hold up to 50,000 of them; split a larger one by district or township.

Step 1: choose the file

Under 1. Choose a file, pick your file. The app reads its column names.

Step 2: match your columns

Under 2. Match your columns, say which of your columns holds each thing. The app guesses from the column names; check each guess.

Field	What it is
Section number	Your own id for the section. It is how next year's file finds the same section again.
Name	What you call it.
Surface	Asphalt, chip seal, gravel, in your words.
Width (feet)
Lanes
Last resurfaced	A date. A bare year is not read as one.
Condition rating	On your own scale. Set the scale first: see Your rating scale and word lists.
Date rated	Or give one date for all of them in the options below.

You must match the section number or the name. A column you do not match is not thrown away; it is kept with the section as it is.

Then the options:

• Mark the matched blocks as ours is ticked to begin with. Untick it if the file includes roads that are not yours. A block somebody already marked "not ours" is left alone either way.
• Add this file’s surface words to our list is unticked to begin with. Left that way, a surface word you do not have is skipped and those blocks import with no surface.
• Ratings with no date of their own were made on takes one date for every rating that has none.

Press Check this import.

Step 3: check before importing

The check runs in the background. A large county takes several minutes, and you can leave the page and come back.

3. Check before importing then tells you, in plain counts:

• how many of your sections matched, and onto how many blocks
• how many sections are new and how many already here will be updated
• how many ratings will be recorded, and as how many inspections
• which sections matched no road and will not be imported
• which rows, ratings or values could not be read
• which blocks the file covers that you have retired
• the first rows, as the app read them

Read it. If something is not what you meant, change step 2 and check again, or press Start over with a different file. Nothing has been saved yet.

When it is right, press the import button.

What an import will and will not do

• A section that matched no road creates nothing.
• An empty cell never blanks out a value you already have.
• A block marked "not ours" stays that way.
• A retired block is left exactly as it is, and is not counted in any section. The check names these blocks. To have the file describe one, restore it on the Roads page before you import: the same file cannot be imported a second time. See Retiring a block.
• Importing the same section number again updates that section in place.
• A section that is in AssetLink but missing from a later file is listed for you and left as it is. It is never deleted.
• The exact same file imported twice changes nothing, and the app says so.
• Imported ratings become inspections on the sections, one inspection for each rating date.

If it is refused

The app says	What to do
The shapefile has no .prj file	Zip the .prj with it, or type the EPSG code and press Read it again.
A CSV import needs a column of WKT lines	Choose the column that holds each road's shape and press Read it with this column.
The file is larger than 50 MB	It is not uploaded. Split it and import the parts.
The file has more than 50,000 features	Split it and import the parts.
The ratings carry too many different dates	Each date becomes one inspection, 24 at most. Leave Date rated unmatched and give a single date in the options.
An import is already under way	One import runs at a time for your organization. Wait for it, or cancel it.
Rows are outside the United States	The file's coordinate system is wrong or missing. Re-export it with a standard projection.

Cancelling

Cancel stops an import and keeps nothing it has done. A check or import that is still working needs nothing from you, so cancel only when you have changed your mind or it is clearly stuck.

Afterwards

The result names how many sections were made and updated, and Open Roads → Sections takes you to them. Every import is listed under Past imports with its file name, date and counts.