Data Loader
About the Geographic Information System (GIS) Data Loader
The GIS Data Loader allows geospatial data associated with existing entities to be delivered to the GIS module (Maps) in GE Digital APM for further development, analysis, or implementation. Customers will be able to load data from other external systems into the GIS module via the Excel workbook.
About the GIS Data Loader Requirements
To use the GIS Data Loaders, your organization must have completed fully the deployment of the Maps module, with populated Family and Entity IDs.
Mapping
The GIS Data Loader populates geospatial data in the MI_ENTY_GEO_DATA table by mapping specified cells in the Excel workbook to the Entity Key field in GE Digital APM. The data loader populates the data in the following order:
- ENTITY_KEY
- ENTITY_ID
- FAMILY_ID + ID_FIELD + ID
About the GIS Data Loader Data Model
The following data model illustrates the records that the Data Loader supports.
GIS Data Loader Data Model
About the GIS Data Loader General Loading Strategy
The imported data must load in a specific sequence to successfully populate fields, create records, and link data to the predecessor and successor records.
Best Practices
When importing data using the GIS Data Loader, you must use the following best practices:
- To populate a record, use the ENTITY_KEY.
- To search for an ENTITY_KEY, use the ENTITY_ID value.
- To search for an ENTITY_KEY if ENTITY_ID is not provided, use the FAMILY_ID, ID_FIELD, and ID values together.
- To create a new record, the referenced Entity Key should not have a corresponding record in the target table and provide the geospatial data.
- To update a record, the referenced Entity Key should have a corresponding record in the target table, and to update new information, provide the new geospatial data.
- To delete an existing record, the Entity Key referenced should have corresponding record in the target table, and do not provide the geospatial data (the cell should be empty).
- Geospatial data in the GEOD_DATA column should conform to the geometry spatial data type.
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All columns in the worksheets must be formatted as Text or Entity Key. Entity Keys should be formatted as Numbers.
Load Sequence
When importing data using the data loader workbook, you must use the following workflow:
- Download the data loader workbook provided by GE Digital
- Identify the data requirements for exporting the data into the data loader workbook.
- Extract data from legacy applications to populate the data loader workbook.
- Provide batch numbers in the Batch worksheet and in the first column of the remaining worksheets in the data loader workbook.
- Import data into GE Digital APM.
- Monitor the status of the data load, and verify the results in the log.
- Conduct tests in GE Digital APM to ensure that the imported data loaded accurately.
For each row in the data loader workbook, the GIS Data Loader creates a new record in GE Digital APM. However, if records have already been created and you import the data, the existing records will be updated.
About the GIS Data Loader Workbook Layout and Use
In order to import data using the GIS Data Loader, GE Digital APM provides an Excel workbook, Geographic Information System (GIS).xlsx, which supports baseline GIS in GE Digital APM. This workbook must be used to perform the data load.
The following table lists the worksheets that are included in the GIS Data Loader workbook.
| Worksheet | Description |
|---|---|
| GIS | The only worksheet used by the GIS Data Loader. It is used to load geospatial data for existing entities. |
The following table lists the fields in the workbook:
GIS Worksheet
| Field Caption | Field ID | Data Type (Length) | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Batch ID | BATCH_ID | Character (50) | This is the Batch ID field. |
| Entity Key | ENTITY_KEY | Numeric | This is the Entity Key field. |
| Entity ID | ENTITY_ID | Character (255) | This is the Entity ID field. |
| Family ID | FAMILY_ID | Character (50) | This is the Family ID field. |
| Family ID Field | ID_FIELD | Character (50) | This is the ID Field name for the specified Family. |
| ID | ID | Character (255) | The is the ID field. |
| Geometry | GEOD_DATA | Character (4000) | This is the Spatial Data Field. |
About the GIS Data Loader Load Verification
About this task
- Review the details of the import job. These details will indicate if any errors occured during the data load. The log helps you identify any records that are not loaded.
- Run a query to view a Geospatial data uploaded. You can use the baseline Map Query that is stored in the folder \\Tools\Maps\Baseline Map Query as a reference.