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Use this item, located on the Tools Menu > Import/Export Menu, to import feature text from a Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet. This process does not import any geometry. This tool is especially designed to work in conjunction with the Excel export tool to make it possible to export the data for a layer, make changes to it using Excel, and then import the data back into Think GIS maintaining the link between the text data and any line work, or Entities, that already existed.
How to simply import Excel data into a new layer
Use the following procedure to create a new layer based on the data in an Excel spreadsheet.
1) From the main menu select Tools - Import/Export - Import From Excel Spreadsheet.
2) Select an XLS file to import. The first row of the excel table MUST contain field names.
3) Wait a few seconds while Think GIS does an initial scan of the data.
4) Select "Create New Layer" from the option prompt.
5) Type a descriptive name for the new layer. (ie. "2004 Accidents")
How to make changes to Think GIS layer data using Excel (Advanced)
Use the following procedure to export the Feature data for a layer into Excel where advanced editing can be done and then re-imported back into Think GIS.
1) Use the Excel Export tool to export the contents of a layer to an XLS file. See Excel Export for instructions on using this tool.
2) Using Excel, make any necessary changes to the feature data. New columns and rows can even be inserted just remember to assign them a field name in the first row. Do NOT alter the field names of existing columns or the contents of the "TMRecordNumber" field since this is the key that links the feature data to any geometry already drawn on the map. Leave the TMRecordNumber field blank for new rows that are inserted. Save the file when finished.
3) From the main menu select Tools - Import/Export - Import From Excel Spreadsheet.
4) Select an XLS file to import. (first row of the excel table MUST contain field names)
5) Wait a few seconds while Think GIS does an initial scan of the data.
6) Select "Import to Existing Layer" from the option prompt.
7) Select a destination layer (Important:must be the same layer that this data was exported from in step 1)
8) If any new columns were added to the Excel file a prompt to create new fields in the layer for this data will pop up.
Think GIS will then update the layer with the Feature data from the Excel file. Rows added in Excel will be appended to the layer as new Features but will not have any Entities representing them on the map.
Notes
•These processes requires that Microsoft Excel be installed on the computer in order to work properly.
•See also Layer Format screen for setting up a live link between a Think GIS layer and a database.
•There is a know problem when importing mixed type columns from Excel. The Excel ODBC driver scans the first 16 rows to determine if the values are all text, all numeric, or mixed. Then only cells matching that type are successfully transferred to Think GIS. This is a problem when there are mixed types in the column but the first 16 rows do not reflect that. To resolve this, either changed the numeric values to text values by placing a ( ' ) in front of each one or rearrange the rows so that there are both numeric and text values in the first 16 rows. This precaution only applies when mixed types are in the same column.
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