Points and Text Import

Using Points and Text Import

Use Import to add data to the document. Click the Points and Text Import button on the Geographic Imager panel or go to File > Import > Points and Text Import.

 

Import Points and Text button

 In Adobe Photoshop CS6, Points and Text Import is only available through File > Import.

Overview

The Import dialog box has two modes: Simple and Advanced. In Simple mode, a file format drop-down list, a format import settings button, and a Filename path box and Browse button are available. In Advanced mode, several additional controls are available. The coordinate system section displays which coordinate system the data has (if applicable) and provides an option to edit it. In both Simple and Advanced modes, a status displays information such as data being loaded successfully or if further settings are required.

Formats

The following import formats are supported:

• AutoCAD Drawing/Exchange (DWG, DXF)
• Delimited XY Text Data (TXT, CSV, TSV)
• Digital Line Graph (OPT, DLG)
• Esri ArcInfo Generate (GEN)
• Esri Interchange File (E00)
• Esri Shapefile (SHP)
• Geography Markup Language (GML, XML)
• GeoJSON (GEOJSON, JSON, TopoJSON)
• Geopackage (GPKG)
• Google Earth (KML, KMZ)
• GPS Exchange Format (GPX)
• International Hydrographic Office S-57 (000, 030)
• MapInfo Interchange Format (MIF)
• MapInfo Table (TAB)
• Microsoft Excel (XLS)
• MicroStation Design (DGN)
• Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS) (*CATD.DDF)
• TIGER/Line (RT1, R*1, BW1)
• Basic File Geodatabase Reader (GDB)
• Basic Personal Geodatabase Reader (MDB)
• PostGIS (GIS-enabled PostgreSQL database)

Adding Files

To specify the format to be imported, click the Format drop-down list and choose <Auto detect format> or another specific format. The <Auto detect format> option allows all supported GIS files to be displayed in the file browser. Choosing a specific format is recommended to ease navigation.

Once a format has been selected, click the Browse button to select the file to be imported and click Open. Alternatively type in the full path of the file in the Filename box.

A status displays whether or not the data was loaded successfully. In some cases, it may be necessary to click the status to reload the data again. Click the Log button to view more information about the chosen data file.

Format Import Settings

Certain file formats have additional configuration parameters which can be accessed by clicking the Settings button (listed in the Format Import Settings section above). These settings affect how Geographic Imager and Adobe Photoshop handle the data during import. The Settings button is enabled when additional format import settings are available.

Format Information

Click the format information button to discover more details about supported extensions, feature types, coordinate systems, encoding and more.

Method

Three methods are available: Text Tool, Note Tool, and Count Tool.

When Text Tool is chosen, all features are added as text annotation based on a specified attribute. Use the Label Position setting to choose how text is positioned around a point. Text is added as separate layers and can be accessed using the Layers panel.

With the Adobe Photoshop Text Tool selected, settings to adjust the font, font size, justification, colour and other settings are available on the Options toolbar. Text annotation uses these settings, so it is useful to determine text properties before importing point and text data.

When Note Tool is chosen, all features are added as Adobe Photoshop notes based on a specified attribute. Notes can contain more text and can include multiple attributes. Notes can be accessed using the Notes panel. Note visibility can be toggled on and off (View > Show > Notes).

With the Adobe Photoshop Note Tool selected, settings to adjust the colour, open the Notes panel, and to clear all notes are available on the Options toolbar.

When Count Tool is chosen, all features are added with a marker and a count number assigned. The count number is based on the order of the data row loaded from the dataset. No attribute settings are available for the Count Tool method.

With the Adobe Photoshop Count Tool selected, settings to adjust the colour, marker size, and label size are available on the Options toolbar.

Encoding (Advanced Mode)

Most formats have a character encoding setting. Extended and international character sets are supported as attributes on import. To assign a character codec suitable for your selected dataset, choose the appropriate value from the Encoding drop-down list (the first column displays the name and the second column displays the code or alternate name, if available).

Filtering (Advanced Mode)

There are several filtering options available to reduce or simplify the amount of data being imported: Layer filter, Spatial filter, and Simplification. On the Import Dialog box (Advanced Mode), the link provides a status of whether or not the default or custom filtering options are being used. To change filtering settings, click the Filtering link to open the Filtering Options dialog box.

 

Layer Filter

Use the Layer filter to remove attribute columns prior to datasets being imported or to remove layers from multi-layer import formats. Check the Layer filter check box and click the button to open the Layer Filter dialog box. To include an attribute, ensure the Include? column check box is checked. To exclude an attribute, uncheck the check box in the Include? column. Use the Check All or Uncheck All buttons to quickly check or uncheck the attributes in the Include? column. Optionally, create an expression to further filter for specific values (e.g. filtering the country attribute to a specific country). Double-click in the Expression column to enter an expression or click the Edit button to open the Expression Builder dialog box.

Layer filters can be saved in the Filtering Options dialog box. Click the Save button and enter a name. Picking a saved layer filter from the drop-down loads saved attributes designated for inclusion/exclusion. Choose [Default] to return to the original filter settings.

 Saving multiple-layer filters at once is not supported.

Spatial Filter

Use the Spatial filter to reduce the amount of map features that are imported by specifying an extent of an area of interest and importing only features within it. This can help reduce the amount of time spent when importing only a portion of large datasets. Check the Spatial filter check box and click the button to open the Spatial Filter dialog box. Use the Relationship drop-down to change how the extent interacts with the features being filtered. The relationship of the extent boundary can be Intersects, Contains, and Crops.

• Intersects imports whole features which are within or intersect area of interest extents.
• Contains only imports whole features which fall completely within area of interest extents.
• Crop: imports whole features within area of interest extents and partial features that intersect area of interest extent.

Spatial filters can be saved in the Filtering Options dialog box. Click the Save button and enter a name. Picking a saved spatial filter from the drop-down loads the saved extent. Choose [Default] to return to the original filter settings.

Select From Online Map

Specify a spatial filter using a web map. Click and drag the red corner markers to define a spatial extent to filter. The extent of a dataset is shown in blue. It is possible to have multiple dataset extents shown on a map. Pan the map using click and drag. Zoom in using + button, mouse scroll wheel or left mouse button double-click. Zoom out using - button, mouse scroll wheel or right mouse button double-click. Toggle between satellite or map display. Enter search criteria into the Search bar to locate features such as cities or countries.

Select Bounds

To specify extents of the bounding box, enter corner the minimum and maximum values. The coordinate system displayed is used unless another is specified.

Filter to Another Document's Extents

Use this feature to filter an area based on the geographic extents of another open document.

Note that this does not select an area to the boundary defined by the vector, only a rectangular shape defined by its geographic extents.

Use Vector File Extents

Use this feature to filter an area based on the geographic extents of a vector file. Click the Use Vector File Extents button to select a vector dataset. Choose from a variety of vector formats including shapefiles, KML/KMZ, GPX, and DWG. Note that this does not select an area to the boundary defined by the vector, only a rectangular shape defined by its geographic extents.

 Esri formats such as geodatabases (GDB, MDB, MXD) and text formats (TXT, CSV, XLS) are not supported.

Use Coordinate System Envelope

Apply a spatial filter using the envelope of a coordinate system to define a geographic area. Click the Use Coordinate System Envelope button to choose a coordinate system.  If only a portion of the envelope falls within the extents, it will still be filtered. If a coordinate system envelope is outside of the image’s extents, it will fail to filter and a warning will appear.

Results

When a points and text file being imported has a missing coordinate system, a dialog box will appear to either specify one or use an existing coordinate system from an open document.

 

 

Depending on the Method specified, point and text data is imported as annotated text, notes, or as counts.

 

Text Tool results

Annontation added using the Text Tool

 

 

Note Tool results

Attributes as notes using the Note Tool

 See more about Adobe Photoshop notes here.

 

Count Tool results

 

Count marker size and label size can be changed using the Count Tool options on the Options toolbar.

 

 See more about Adobe Photoshop Count Tool here.