Data

Data is the single door for bringing anything onto your map. It opens as a docked panel listing every source type, grouped and searchable, plus two shortcuts at the top: your Datastore and the Data Hub.

Pick a type and its form opens in the same panel, with a back arrow to the list. Nothing pops over the map, so you keep seeing what you are adding to.

The two shortcuts

• Datastore is your own storage: everything you have imported, computed or saved. Adding from there is one click and costs no upload.
• Data Hub is curated open data you can browse by producer and theme, preview, then add live or download into your Datastore. Satellite imagery search lives here too.

Local files

Type	Notes
Vector Layer	GeoJSON, GeoPackage, zipped Shapefile, KML and KMZ, GML, FlatGeobuf and more.
Raster Layer	GeoTIFF and Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF. A plain striped GeoTIFF is offered for conversion on the fly.
Delimited Text Layer	CSV and TSV, using longitude and latitude columns to build points.
CAD (DXF/DWG) Layer	CAD drawings, parsed in the browser into a plain vector layer.
GPX Layer	Tracks, routes and waypoints, split into named layers.
MBTiles Layer	A tile archive, converted server side into the PMTiles sibling that renders on the web.
OSM PBF Layer	OpenStreetMap extracts.

A local import gives you three ways in: From computer, a short list of Samples to try a format without owning data, and From Datastore for files you already imported. Vector and GeoParquet imports offer to keep the original file in your Datastore alongside the layer.

You can also drag files straight onto the map.

Web services

Type	Notes
XYZ Layer	Raster or vector tiles from a {z}/{x}/{y} template.
WMS Layer	Map images, with click to identify where the service supports it.
WFS Layer	Live vector features, with optional auto refresh.
WMTS Layer	Pre rendered tile matrices.
OGC Vector Tiles Layer	OGC API Tiles, the open standard successor to the XYZ convention.
ArcGIS Layer	FeatureServer and VectorTileServer layers.
GeoRSS Layer	Geotagged feeds, re fetched on reopen.
Video Layer	A video draped on the map with four corner coordinates.
Deck.gl Layer	Advanced deck.gl visualizations over your own data.

A web service is stored as a reference, not a copy. It is re fetched when you reopen the map, so the layer stays in sync with its source.

Some providers refuse browser requests. When that happens ALIGN can relay the tiles server side instead of failing, and tells you so.

Cloud native formats

Type	Notes
GeoParquet Layer	Columnar vector, read by range request so a large remote file streams instead of downloading.
FlatGeobuf Layer	Spatially indexed vector, also read by range request.
PMTiles Layer	A single file tile archive, vector or raster.
Zarr Layer	Chunked multidimensional arrays.
NetCDF / HDF	Scientific grids, common for climate and ocean data.

3D layers

Type	Notes
LiDAR Layer	Point clouds, rendered with deck.gl.
Splatting Layer	Gaussian splat scenes.
3D Tiles Layer	OGC 3D Tiles, for city and mesh models.
3D Model (glTF)	A single model placed at a coordinate.

Databases

Type	Notes
DuckDB Layer	Query a DuckDB database and map the result.

Basemaps

The Basemap entry opens the basemap picker. Applying a style keeps the picker open, so you can try several in a row and stop on the one that fits.

You can bring your own provider by adding your account key, for example Mapbox or MapTiler. Your keys are stored in your account and are never written into the saved map, so a map you publish or hand over carries no secret. See Integrations.

The active basemap sits at the bottom of the Layers panel as Background.

What happens to your data

A layer you import from your computer is stored in your Datastore first, and the map points at that asset. That is why a saved map reopens intact: it never depends on a file path on your machine.

Layers added from a URL or a service stay byteless. Nothing is copied, only the reference is saved.