Pro Import

Take the importing to the next level

While the non-pro version of Mapster WP Maps has a pretty robust Import system, Pro features make it much more flexible and ensure it works with larger datasets.

When you've installed Pro, more import options will immediately appear in Settings.

Go to Maps > Settings and click on the Data Importer button. In addition to the default functionalities (validating your file, basic reprojection, assigning a category), much more is now included.

All the properties on your data file will be retained as well, in each feature under "Custom Properties" after import. These can later be used in advanced Category Filters or Popups.

Large Imports

A shapefile or geoJSON with any number of features will now import. This is done in batches of 50 at a time, so it may take some time to fully execute, but let the progress bar fill after you press Import.

CSV and Spreadsheet Imports

CSVs and Spreadsheets are for importing Locations only at this time (single coordinate pairs).

You can choose to import a CSV or Spreadsheet in the "From Spreadsheet" tab, but it needs to be formatted in a specific way and imported through using Google Sheets. This is to ensure that all the data is consistently organized.

You can find the example spreadsheet here. Please note that, when you make your Google Sheet, you must also make it public by choosing the option File > Share > Publish to Web. Then, enter the URL into the area in Mapster imports and your file should import to Locations properly.

For now, only the post_title will be mapped specifically into the post. Other values will be included as custom fields, but you can use the options below to map them to other fields (see "Conditional Styling").

Category Import

After you upload a valid geographic file, you will be able to assign a category to those features so they will be more easily able to be added to a map after import.

Conditional Styling

We've introduced a fairly deep system for importing with custom styles, based on the different properties or data uploaded in your file.

After you upload a valid geographic file, options will appear on the right under "Conditional Styling and Popups".

You can create different conditions for each geographic type (Points, Lines, and Polygons). Each condition contains Rules, a Template, Properties, and Popups styling information.

Rules tell the importer which features this condition applies to. By default, rules are applied to all features. Press the Rules button to open the rules section and choose which features this condition will apply to.

Template allows you to assign a specific "template" or "base" style, based on an existing feature you've already created, to this condition. Just enter the ID of the feature (you can find this by going to Locations, Lines, or Polygons, and looking for the ID in the list of posts on the right). All the features matching this condition will inherit the template's style.

Note that if you have created a template without popups, and you try to import using that template and adding popup properties, the post will not fully reflect the import until manually having pressed "Save" on the post. Instead, make sure your template post has a popup enabled and a popup template selected for importing to work flawlessly.

Properties allow you to modify very specific inputs. You can set everything that you would normally set in the interface, from the Post Title to the color, border width, and so on. You can select to use a value from a property on the data, or enter in a direct input if you choose instead. Direct inputs will override property values.

You can also set a "Secondary Category" for subsets of your data, so everything is neatly organized on import.

If you are confused about which properties mean what, they correspond exactly to the properties you can set manually when creating a feature in the Wordpress backend. For instance, label_text_properties_text-field is the "Text Field" property when creating a label Location. Default values are also shown to give you a hint on what the values should be.

Popups allow you to modify specific inputs for popups across this condition. You can turn on popups using direct input "1" on enable_popup, and then set text or other properties based on feature properties.

The importer can certainly be a little confusing! It's meant for advanced users. If you are having trouble, we'd recommend importing using categories for different subsections of your data, and then styling using the Mass Edit tool, which is a bit more intuitive.