Importing and Exporting POIs

NavVis IVION supports exporting and importing Points of Interest (POIs) in bulk via the POI Types menu.

Only site administrators can do this. You can use two file formats for importing and exporting POIs: .json and .csv.

Unique identifiers can be imported and exported with POIs in .json and .csv format.

• To back up POIs or transfer them between NavVis IVION sites, use the .json format.

• To import or export POIs from or to another program, such as a facility management application, use the .csv format.

• POI types and POI type groups, but not POIs, are merged with existing ones in the site when importing.

• Back up attachments and custom icons separately.

Using .json to Export or Import POIs

Use the .json format to export a backup of the POIs in a site or to transfer POIs between sites.

We do not recommend manually editing the .json file. We will preserve compatibility for POIs exported in .json format in future versions of NavVis IVION.

Exporting POIs in .json Format

Exporting POIs gives you a complete backup of all POIs, POI types, and POI type groups, in their hierarchical structure, that were in the site at the time of exporting. If the POIs have any attachments or custom icons, you need to back up or transfer those files separately.

Follow these instructions to back up the POIs in your NavVis IVION site, or to transfer them between sites:

1. Open the POI Types menu.
2. Expand the Import/Export POIs panel.
3. Select .json from the drop-down menu next to the export option.
4. Choose a coordinate system for the export. The following options are available:
   1. Select Site coordinate system to export the POIs in the coordinate system that was previously chosen for the site.
   2. Select Spatial reference system to export the POIs in another spatial reference system. Search for a spatial reference system and select it from the drop-down menu.
   3. Select Dataset to export the POIs in the coordinate system of a specific dataset. Search for the name of a dataset and select it from the drop-down menu.
5. Click Export POIs and save the file to your hard drive.

Importing POIs in .json Format

Follow these instructions to import POIs in .json format:

1. Open the POI Types menu.

   

2. Expand the Import/Export POIs panel.

   

3. Click Import POIs and select the .json file to upload it from your hard drive.

   

4. By default, POIs will be imported with existing IDs. You have the option to assign new IDs when importing POIs by clicking No, assign new IDs.

   

5. If you do not want to assign new IDs to POIs, you can overwrite POIs with the same ID by selecting Yes, update existing POI with same ID. If a POI with the same ID already exists, it will be replaced on import. Otherwise, a new POI will be created.

   

6. Select which user groups can view and edit the POIs.
   These permissions will be set for all POIs in the .json file. Group permissions will not be impacted. Make sure you do not make sensitive data public (viewable by the Everyone group), especially when private mode is not being used in the instance.

   

7. Click Import POIs.

Note: On import, NavVis IVION will detect the coordinate system that the POIs are in and will import them in the same coordinate system. If this information is not available, the POIs will be imported in WGS-84.

NavVis IVION adds all POIs described in the POI hierarchy you uploaded. It tries to merge POI types and POI type groups to avoid duplicates.

Using .csv to Export or Import POIs

Use the .csv format to synchronize your POIs with an asset database or other application.

We recommend editing .csv files in a spreadsheet application. Make sure you re-export the file to .csv format after editing.

Important: We cannot guarantee that POIs exported from NavVis IVION in .csv format will be importable in future versions of NavVis IVION. If you want to transfer POIs between sites or instances, use the .json format.

Note: .csv files vary in how they separate values from each other and how they format numbers. When exporting or importing .csv files, you need to know which delimiter and number format you are using. The number format typically varies by language. For example, the English 1,000.00 is the German 1.000,00. The delimiter is chosen so that it works with the number format, but details may vary between applications. If you are unsure of the format of your .csv file, you can open it in a text editor to check. If a POI import fails because of a formatting problem, try again using a different setting. Some spreadsheet applications also support selecting the delimiter and number format when opening or exporting .csv files.

Exporting POIs in .csv Format

Follow these instructions to export POIs in .csv format:

1. Open the POI Types menu.
2. Expand the Import/Export POIs panel.
3. Click Export POIs to open the export Options.
4. Select the correct value delimiter and number format.
5. Choose a coordinate system for the export. The following options are available:
   1. Select Site coordinate system to export the POIs in the coordinate system that was previously chosen for the site.
   2. Select Spatial reference system to export the POIs in another spatial reference system. Search for a spatial reference system and select it from the drop-down menu.
   3. Select Dataset to export the POIs in the coordinate system of a specific dataset. Search for the name of a dataset and select it from the drop-down menu.
6. Click Export and save the file to your hard drive.

The exported .csv file has one entry (line) for every POI in the site. Every line contains all available information about the POI, including:

• Its position.

• Its name and description in all available translations.

• The names of its type and type group.

• Any information inherited from the type or type group.

Importing POIs in .csv Format

Follow these instructions to import POIs in .csv format:

1. Open the POI Types menu.

   

2. Expand the Import/Export POIs panel.

   

3. Click Import POIs and select the .csv file to upload from your hard drive.
   Make sure the file conforms to the standards in the data fields and example file section.

   

4. By default, POIs will be imported with existing IDs. You have the option to assign new IDs when importing POIs by selecting No, assign new IDs.

   

5. If you do not want to assign new IDs to POIs, you can overwrite POIs with the same ID by selecting Yes, update existing POI with same ID. If a POI with the same ID already exists, it will be replaced on import. Otherwise, a new POI will be created.

   

6. Select which user groups can view and edit the POIs.
   These permissions will be set for all POIs in the .csv file. Group permissions will not be impacted.

   

7. Click Import POIs.

Note: On import, NavVis IVION will detect the coordinate system that the POIs are in and will import them in the same coordinate system. If this information is not available, the POIs will be imported in WGS-84.

POI Data Fields and Example File

Information about data fields for both .json and .csv file formats, and an example .csv file.

.json File Format

For a full reference of the fields describing POIs, see the REST API documentation for Points of Interest (POIs), POI Types, and POI Type Groups.

We do not provide an example .json file here, but you can export the POI hierarchy from one of your sites to see the full structure. It looks like the example responses in the REST API documentation, with individual POIs nested inside POI types and POI types nested inside type groups.

.csv File Format

The file should contain these columns:

Column Name	Explanation	Required?
POIS__LATITUDE	Latitude in global, WGS-84 coordinate system	Yes
POIS__LONGITUDE	Longitude in global, WGS-84 coordinate system	Yes
POIS__HEIGHT	Height above floor of reference dataset in meters	Yes, can be 0
POIS_TITLE_<language code>, e.g., POIS_TITLE_EN	Name of the POI in the given language, string	No
POIS__DESCRIPTION__<language code>, e.g., POIS__DESCRIPTION__EN	Description of the POI in the given language, HTML-formatted string	No
POIS__ICON	URL to the icon assigned to the POI	No
POIS__CUSTOM_DATA	Any custom data for interfacing with other applications, string	No
POI_TYPES__NAME__<language code>, e.g., POI_TYPES__NAME__EN	Name of the POI's type in the given language, string	Yes
POI_TYPES__ICON	URL to the icon of the POI's type	Yes
POI_TYPE_GROUPS__NAME__<language code>, e.g., POI_TYPES__NAME__EN	Name of the POI's type group in the given language, string	Yes

In this example .csv file, all the required columns and one additional translation are filled out for two POIs. The example file also contains optional fields. You can edit it in a spreadsheet application to fill in the information about your POIs.

The names of the POI type and type group must be available in at least one language. You can add further columns with the translations in other languages. The POI name and description are not required but can also be given in multiple languages.

NavVis IVION will alert you if any required information is missing from the import file. However, it cannot detect if additional translations are missing.

POI Types Merging on Import

When importing POI type groups and POI types in either format, NavVis IVION tries to merge duplicates based on their names. This does not apply to individual POIs.

Here is how the merging process works:

• NavVis IVION first matches POI type groups, then matches the POI types within each group.

• It tries to match types and type groups based on their names in any of the available translations (i.e., same language, same string. The matching is case-sensitive).

• The IDs of the type groups and types are ignored for the merging process.

• If one translation matches, merging updates the translations:

  • It adds any translations found in the import file but not on the server.

  • Any translations found on the server but not in the import file stay on the server.

  • For any translations that are different between the server and the import file, it uses the one from the import file.

Assigning POIs to Datasets on Import

If you are importing POIs to an instance but are not done aligning everything, you can preserve the POIs' relative positions by linking them to datasets.

Follow these instructions to link POIs to specific datasets:

1. Set the dataset name in the import file.
   When exporting POIs, the dataset name field is included. That means if you are transferring POIs between sites and both sites contain the same datasets, the POIs will be assigned to the same datasets as they were before.
   1. In .json: dataset_name
   2. In .csv: POIS_DATASET
2. Import the POIs to your site.
   NavVis IVION checks if there is a dataset with that name in the database. If so, it creates the connection from the POI to the dataset.