Datastore

The Datastore is where your GIS items live in ALIGN. Every layer you import or create, and every web map you save, is stored here as a typed asset in open, cloud-native formats. It is available from both the Map Builder and the App Builder.

Open, cloud-native formats

Your data is kept in open formats built for the cloud: PMTiles for tiles, Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFF (COG) for rasters, GeoParquet and FlatGeobuf for vectors. No proprietary format and no lock-in. You can download your assets and use them anywhere.

The Datastore panel

Open the Datastore from the left rail. It shows your assets and folders as a tree, where you can:

• search by name, sort by name or date, and filter by format,
• create folders and drag assets to organize them,
• rename, move, delete or download an asset,
• add an asset straight to your map.

Asset types

The Datastore holds every kind of GIS item:

• vector layers (GeoJSON, FlatGeobuf, GeoParquet),
• rasters (Cloud-Optimized GeoTIFF),
• tile and web-service references (XYZ, WMS, WMTS, WFS, PMTiles, GeoRSS),
• and your web maps.

Web-service items are stored as a reference, not a file, so they stay in sync with their source. A reference has no file to download.

Uploads keep their format

When you import a local file, ALIGN keeps your original:

• cloud-native files (FlatGeobuf, GeoParquet) are stored as they are,
• other formats (GPX, KML, CSV, GeoPackage, zipped Shapefile) are kept in their original form alongside a ready-to-render copy.

Your source file is never silently discarded or converted behind your back.

Web maps

A web map you save in the Map Builder is a Datastore asset like any other. Open it from the Datastore panel to pick your work back up. See Web maps.

Your data stays yours

Everything in your Datastore is yours, in open formats, downloadable at any time. If you ever leave ALIGN, your data leaves with you.