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We are excited to announce the launch of updated product names, logos, and headers within our user interfaces as part of the CivicPlus® Solution Rebranding initiative. These changes mark the first step toward creating a cohesive and seamless user experience across all solutions in our portfolio. As part of this transition, users may notice minor design updates. While the functionality you rely on remains unchanged, we are in the process of updating screenshots and other resources on our Help Centers to reflect the new branding. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we work to complete these updates.

Map Layer Shapefile Formats

  • Updated:

This article outlines the shapefile types that are supported by our Mass Notification system (formerly CivicReady) for use in your alerting map.

 

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What can shapefiles be used for?

Shapefiles can be imported by the Mass Notification Support Team for your organization for two use cases.

  1. Defining your alerting boundary
  2. Adding additional layers to your alerting map

 

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What file formats are supported for shape files?

Depending on your use case, we can support the file formats below.

 

Defining Your Alerting Boundary

  • Esri Shapefiles
    • The .zip file must contain at least the .shp, .shx, .dbf, and .prj files components of the shapefile.
    • Compression formats other than a .zip archive are not supported.
    • When you create a .zip file that contains the .shp, .shx, .dbf, and .prj files that comprise the shapefile, store your shapefile directly in the root (the central directory) of the .zip archive, not in directories within the archive. If your .zip file viewer shows path information, the path should be blank.
    • The shapefile must contain valid geometries. If you have ArcGIS Pro or ArcMap, you can use the Repair Geometry geoprocessing tool to correct invalid geometries in shapefiles. Invalid geometries cannot be published or drawn in Map Viewer Classic.
    • The following features are not supported: multipatch or multipoint geometries, geometries that cross the dateline, and self-intersections in polygons. Shapefiles with these features cannot be added to Map Viewer Classic.

 

Adding Additional Layers for Selection in Your Alerting Map

  • Esri Shapefile (ZIP archive containing all shapefile files, see additional details above)
  • CSV or TXT files with optional address, place, or coordinate locations (comma, semi-colon, or tab-delimited)
  • GPX (GPS Exchange Format)
  • GeoJSON (open standard format for simple geographical features)
  • Layers can also be imported from a publicly available ArcGIS Server Web Service
    • An ArcGIS Server web service is a GIS resource that contains shapefiles, map layers, and other mapping resources for your organization.
    • These services are typically managed by an internal or contracted GIS team.
    • Each of these services is assigned a custom URL that can be used to import the publicly available resources from the service to an external application, such as the mapping tool for sending alerts.
    • For more information, view Esri's "ArcGIS Server web services" article.

 

Note: If you would like to add additional layers or use a shapefile to update your organization's alerting boundary, submit a ticket to Support. Please include the name of your organization and the file(s) that you would like us to import.

 

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Other Shapefile Limitations

File Size and Dataset Limitation

  • Shapefile or GeoJSON file with point data can contain 1,000 features
  • Shapefile or GeoJSON file with polygon or line data can contain 1,000 features
  • Shapefiles must be smaller than 2 MB and GeoJSON files must be smaller than 10 MB

 

See this article from ArcGIS For more information, see the "My dataset is too large to add directly to the map" section of the ArcGIS "Troubleshoot" article.

 

Note: If your shapefiles exceed any of the limitations above, you will need to work with your GIS team to create a hosted feature layer. As long as the hosted layer or web map service they create is publicly available, it can be added to your alerting map in the Mass Notification system.

 

For helpful information from Esri regarding hosted feature layers, see their "Publish hosted feature layers" article.

 

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Article Glossary

The terms located in this section are listed alphabetically.

  • .dbf: Database file
  • .prj: Projection file
  • .shp: Shapefile
  • .shx: Shape index file
  • .zip: Compressed file or folder
  • CSV: Comma-separated values
  • GeoJSON: Geographic JavaScript Object Notation
  • GIS: Geographic Information System
  • GPX: GPS (Global Positioning System) Exchange Format
  • MB: Megabyte
  • TXT: Text

 

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