Create and Import Spatial Data

New GIS data may be created from scratch or imported using an import tool. GIS data are stored as feature classes or rasters in the database.

Create a new feature class

Description	Illustration
Right-click on a Group node and select “Create new feature class”
To create a new feature class name, geometry type (point, line, polygon) and projection must be defined. Note that the Name field cannot contain “space” or any special characters. Optionally an attribute fields may be defined (default is none). In this case a field named “Name” has been defined as a string with length 15 characters. Press OK to create the feature class.
A new feature class is now added to the GIS explorer under the selected group (or root).
In order to create new features in the feature class first add the (empty) feature class to an Active map or to a New Map.
Select the new feature class in the active layer drop-down dialogue (hint: the order they appear depend on the order they were added to the map).
Select “Edit active layer…” in the View settings menu.
Choose “Sketch New Feature” and simply start digitizing the feature on the screen.
To complete a polygon or line feature simply double click on the map. To save edits press the “save “ button in the “Edit layer” toolbar. To stop editing, click save, and close the toolbar.

Import spatial data

Description	Illustration
Feature classes can be created in the database using an import tool. To activate the import tool first click on the database node in the GIS explorer.
In the Tools Explorer choose the import tool that you want. If pressing “Run” on the tool property dialogue, a window will appear assisting the input specifications. Please refer to the section “GIS Tools for vector data” for further details on the individual import tools.
Raster data can be imported in a similar manner to feature classes. To activate import tools for raster data, click on the raster database to select it.
The raster import tools will then appear in the Tools Explorer. Press “Run” on the tool property dialog to display the import window. Please refer to the section “GIS Tools for raster data” for further details on the individual import tools.

Export spatial data

Description	Illustration
Feature classes can be exported to a file using an export tool. To activate the export tool simply click on the feature class to be exported,
In the Tools Explorer choose the export tool that you want. Please refer to the section “GIS Tools for vector data” for further detail on the individual export tools.

Supporting additional projections in MIKE Workbench

MIKE Workbench support a wide range of projections.

The list of supported projections can be found in the ESRIProjections.txt file of the MIKE Workbench installation folder.

ESRIProjections.txt contains information about the reference to projections info in the PostgreSQL database and the ESRI WKT used in the map component of MIKE Workbench.

For every line in the ESRIProjections.txt, a row with a “srid” containing the reference (e.g. 29190) is found in the PostgreSQL database in table: public.spatial_ref_sys.

New projections can be supported, adding rows in both ESRIProjections.txt and in the PostgreSQL table public.spatial_ref_sys.

Required information can be found on the site http://spatialreference.org/. The following information is needed: - PostGIS spatial_ref_sys INSERT statement
For the PostgreSQL database - ESRI WKT
For the ESRIProjections.txt file. Use the srid of the INSERT statement in the file.

Note that creating new databases using the Database Manager Utility, will use the spatial_ref_sys table of the PostGIS template database “template_postgis_20”. This means that it is recommended to execute the INSERT statement on both the database requiring the new projection and the PostGIS template database.

Projections

The projection of a feature class is defined during import, and the feature class will be stored in the specified projection (see Import tools).

When a feature class is opened in a Map data view, it will however be reprojected to a common projection such that the user will not have to handle feature layers of different projections in the same map. This “common projection” is a user setting which is set in the System manager.

Changing the user projection

Description	Illustration
To change the user projection, open the System Explorer, right click on a user and select Edit from the context menu. The User profile data view opens. The Coordinate system setting defines the projection all feature layers will be displayed in when opened in a map view.