Merging, Splitting and Reporting: Getting GIS Data Ready to Share
Practical patterns for combining GeoJSON collections, splitting features into separate files, and turning a map into a printable PDF report.
Merging: one collection from many
Field teams, contractors and downloads all arrive as separate files. Merging them into one FeatureCollection makes styling, measuring and publishing far simpler.
Before merging, confirm all inputs share a coordinate system and reconcile attribute schemas — mismatched property names are the usual reason a merged layer looks half-empty.
Splitting: one file per feature
Splitting is the reverse and matters for delivery: one file per site, per phase or per client. It also makes review tractable, because a reviewer can open a single feature instead of scanning a 40 MB collection.
From map to PDF report
A map only counts as a deliverable once someone outside GIS can read it. A usable report page needs a title, the map extent, a scale reference, a north indication, the coordinate system, a date and a data source.
The PDF Map Report tool renders your current map view into a printable page so the output is shareable without any GIS software on the other end.
A repeatable handoff workflow
A sequence that holds up in practice:
- Inspect each input in the Viewer before trusting it
- Reproject or convert once, early, and note what you did
- Merge, then measure, then simplify only for display copies
- Export the working format (GeoJSON) plus the audience format (KML or PDF)