Global Mapper v25.0

opening and importing txt files

wmiswm
wmiswm Global Mapper UserTrusted User
It is very common that POIs are entered, stored, maintained, and shared in excel format (say via Google Doc), though academically speaking, mdb should be the more "correct" way to go. The troublesome issue is that, in some cases, excel table may be the only format available. Anyway, since GM does not have the build in ability to open xls files directly, the excel files have to be converted to txt files before importation into GM. Usually, in designing excel tables, the first row/column is the identifier for the row/column concerned. However, unlike the imporation of mdb, GM fixed the format of the txt file. The co-ordinates have to be the starting two columns. This means that if the excel table is not specifically designed for GM, very probably, reformating is unavoidable. Now, if there are 1000 excel files for a tiled map, though auto conversion from xls to txt is possible, editing and reformating is much more difficult. I would suggest importation of txt files follows the flexibility of mdb, which allows the user to define the co-ordinate columns/rows. Providing the option of direct importation of excel spreadsheet is even better.

Answers

  • bmg_bob
    bmg_bob Global Mapper Programmer
    Answer ✓
    When importing a text file, the coordinates do not need to be the first two columns.  They need to be together, and you need to know the order of the X and Y coordinate values, but they can be in any column.  The Fields to Skip at Start of Line setting controls what field index (column) the coordinates start in. For Example: If the X and Y coordinates are in the 3rd and 4th columns, setting this value to 2 will ensure that the coordinates will be grabbed from the appropriate place. 

    I have added item #16568 to our task list so we can evaluate adding the ability to directly import Excel files to a future version of Global Mapper.