How to Add Data to a Project

A Geobble Project can use reusable geographic resources as Project data. Add the Sources, Collections, or Symbol Sets that are relevant to your objective so they are available while you analyse data, create layers, answer geographic questions, and develop the Project.

Open Project data, select Add, search for the resources you need, choose one or more, and confirm the selection.

Adding a resource makes it available to the Project. It does not create another copy of that resource.

What Project data is for

A Project starts with an objective.

For example:

Identify communities with poor access to hospitals.

To work on that objective, the Project may need data such as:

Hospital locations
+
Settlements
+
Road network
+
Administrative boundaries

Project data tells Geobble:

These are geographic resources that belong to the context of this Project.

The normal relationship is:

Reusable Source or Collection
          ↓
    added to Project
          ↓
 available as Project context
          ↓
analysis, layers and map work

The original resource continues to exist independently of the Project.

What you can currently add

The current Add project resources interface supports:

Sources
Collections
Symbol Sets

The Project may also contain Project results created during analysis. Those are managed separately from reusable resources that you manually add.

Maps are not currently listed as an addable Project-data resource in this interface.

Sources vs Collections

The distinction matters.

Add a Source when you need a specific dataset

For example:

Cameroon Health Facilities

or:

Douala Road Network

A Source is usually the clearest option when you already know exactly which dataset the Project needs.

Add a Collection when the broader group of resources is relevant

A Collection groups related Sources.

For example:

Cameroon Administrative Boundaries

might organise several related boundary Sources.

Adding the Collection provides broader catalogue context than attaching one isolated Source.

Do not automatically add the entire Collection simply because one of its Sources may be useful. Choose the scope that fits the Project.

Symbol Sets

A Symbol Set contains reusable symbols that can support map presentation.

Add one when the Project requires that particular set of cartographic symbols.

For example, a mapping workflow might use an organisation's established facility or infrastructure symbols.

If the Project is purely analytical and does not need those symbols, there is no reason to attach them simply because they are available.

1. Open the Project

Open the Project you want to work with.

If you have not created it yet, see How to Create a Project.

Before adding data, be able to state the Project's objective reasonably clearly.

For example:

Compare accessibility to health facilities across these districts.

This makes it much easier to decide which resources actually belong in the Project.

2. Open Project data

Open the Project data panel.

The panel shows the geographic resources currently available to the Project.

If nothing has been added yet, the panel displays an empty state.

Select Add to search for reusable resources.

3. Search for the resource you need

The Add project resources picker lets you search the geographic resources available to you.

Search using a term that describes the dataset rather than an entire analytical question.

For example:

health facilities

or:

administrative boundaries

or:

roads cameroon

is usually more useful than:

which communities have poor access to hospitals

The resource picker is for locating data. The Project conversation is where you describe what you want to do with that data.

4. Review the resource before adding it

Do not choose a Source only because its title appears relevant.

Where available, check whether it matches your intended work in terms of:

geographic coverage;
subject;
reference date;
feature type;
provenance;
licence;
known limitations.

For example, two Sources called:

Cameroon Population

could represent different years, administrative levels, or methodologies.

Likewise, a road dataset may be suitable for general mapping but unsuitable for travel-time analysis if it lacks the required network characteristics.

Selecting the correct data is part of the analysis.

5. Select one or more resources

The current picker supports selecting multiple resources before confirming.

For example, for a health-accessibility Project you might add:

Cameroon Health Facilities
Centre Region Settlements
Cameroon Road Network
Administrative Boundaries

in one operation.

Do not interpret multiple selection as a reason to attach everything potentially related to the topic.

Each resource should have a clear role.

A useful test is:

If I removed this resource, would it change or support the analysis I intend to perform?

If the answer is no, it may not need to be in the Project.

6. Confirm the selection

Confirm the selected resources.

Geobble adds them to the Project data.

Resources that are already present are not added again.

Once added, reusable resources appear in the Project data panel.

A typical Project might then look conceptually like:

Project:
Hospital Accessibility in Centre Region

Project data:
├── Health Facilities
├── Settlements
├── Road Network
└── Administrative Boundaries

The Project now has a much clearer data context for subsequent requests.

Adding a resource does not duplicate it

Suppose the Source:

Cameroon Health Facilities

already exists in your catalogue.

Adding it to:

Hospital Accessibility Project

does not create:

Cameroon Health Facilities - copy

Instead, the Project references the reusable Source as part of its context.

That allows the same Source to contribute to multiple Projects without manually reproducing it for each one.

7. Tell the Project how the resources should be used

Adding data alone does not define the analysis.

After adding the relevant resources, describe what you want the Project to do with them.

For example:

Using the Health Facilities, Settlements and Road Network Sources in this Project, compare settlement access to hospitals by travel time.

Or:

Use the administrative boundaries to summarise the facility counts by district.

Or:

Buffer the facilities by 5 km and identify settlements outside every buffer.

This ties the resources to the actual objective.

Be explicit when several Sources could serve the same role

A Project may contain several related datasets.

For example:

2024 Population Estimates
2025 Population Projection
Census Population

If your request simply says:

Calculate population coverage.

the intended Source may be ambiguous.

When the choice matters, specify it:

Use the 2025 Population Projection Source for the population calculation.

The fact that a resource is in the Project does not mean it should automatically be used for every request.

Add the minimum useful context

More context is not always better.

Suppose the objective is:

Compare forest loss across protected areas.

Useful context might include:

Protected Areas
Forest Loss
Administrative Boundaries

Adding unrelated resources such as:

Health Facilities
Schools
Election Districts
Airports

does not make the analysis richer simply by increasing the number of datasets.

It can instead make the Project harder to understand and increase ambiguity when resource names or concepts overlap.

Prefer:

Relevant context

over:

Maximum context

Add data incrementally when the workflow is still evolving

You do not have to identify every required Source before starting.

A useful workflow can be:

Create Project
      ↓
state objective
      ↓
add obvious Sources
      ↓
begin analysis
      ↓
identify missing information
      ↓
add another relevant Source

For example, you may initially add:

hospitals;
settlements.

Then discover that the intended question requires travel time rather than straight-line distance.

At that point, you can add an appropriate road-network Source.

This is often clearer than attaching a large catalogue of possible inputs before you know whether they are needed.

What if you cannot find the dataset?

The Project resource picker includes a dataset-request pathway when the data you need is not available through the search results.

Before requesting something new, check:

whether a differently named Source already exists;
whether an appropriate Collection contains related data;
whether you already have a supported file that could be uploaded.

If you have the dataset yourself, you can create a Source using How to Create a Source from a Supported GIS File and then add it to the Project.

Project results are different from reusable resources

As you work, the Project can produce derived geographic results.

These appear separately under Project results.

For example:

Project data
├── Reusable resources
│   ├── Hospitals
│   ├── Settlements
│   └── Roads
│
└── Project results
    └── Settlements Over 30 Minutes from Hospital

A Project result is data created through work in that Project.

It is not automatically the same thing as a reusable catalogue Source.

Save a useful Project result as a Source

When a derived Project result becomes useful beyond the immediate Project, the current interface can provide Save to sources….

For example:

Project result:
Settlements Over 30 Minutes from Hospital

might initially exist only as a result of the analysis.

If you want to reuse it elsewhere, you can save it into an appropriate Collection as a Source.

This gives a useful distinction:

Temporary / project-specific result
          ↓
review
          ↓
Save to sources
          ↓
Reusable Source

Do not save every intermediate calculation into the catalogue.

Promote results when they have ongoing value outside the Project.

Derived results retain their relationship to Project work

Project results can carry lineage information about how they were created.

That helps distinguish:

original reusable input

from:

data derived during this Project

This distinction is useful when reviewing analyses later.

A derived result should not be mistaken for an independently collected Source merely because it looks like an ordinary geographic layer.

8. Remove data that is no longer relevant

You can remove a reusable resource from Project data when you have permission to modify the Project.

Open the resource menu and choose Remove.

Geobble asks for confirmation.

Removing the resource removes it from the Project context.

It does not delete the underlying Source or Collection from your catalogue.

Conceptually:

Remove from Project
        ≠
Delete Source

This makes it safe to clean up Project context without destroying reusable data.

Removing data can affect Project layers

Be careful when removing a resource that is already being used.

The current interface warns that layers using a removed resource may stop rendering.

For example:

Road Network Source
      ↓
Project layer based on roads

If you remove the Road Network Source from the Project context, the dependent layer may no longer have the resource it needs.

Before removing a resource, ask:

Is it used by an existing layer?
Does a Project result depend on it?
Is it still part of the analysis?
Am I removing it because it is obsolete, or merely because I am finished looking at it?

Context cleanup should not accidentally break completed work.

Removing a Project result also deserves care

Project results can also be removed.

The interface warns that layers using a removed result may stop rendering.

If you previously saved that result as a reusable Source, removing the Project result does not delete the separately saved Source copy.

This means:

Project result
      ↓ Save to sources
Reusable Source

creates a durable reusable resource distinct from the result that remains in the Project.

Access permissions still apply

Adding a resource to a Project does not bypass the access rules of that resource.

The Project can only use context resources for which the required access remains available.

If access to an external or shared resource is later revoked, the Project may no longer be able to use that resource as context.

This is particularly important for collaborative or long-lived Projects.

If an analysis depends on shared data, consider whether that dependency will remain accessible to the Project's intended collaborators over time.

Adding a public Source does not make your Project public

Resource visibility and Project visibility are separate concerns.

For example:

Public Source
      +
Private Project

does not imply:

Public Project

Likewise, attaching a shared or public Collection does not automatically expose the Project itself.

The Project remains governed by its own access and sharing rules.

Context should support reproducibility

When a Project produces an important result, somebody reviewing it later should be able to understand the main inputs.

A Project whose context contains:

Health Facilities 2026
Population Grid 2025
National Road Network
District Boundaries

is easier to understand than one where important inputs were used transiently and then replaced with vaguely named alternatives.

Use meaningful Sources with useful metadata, and avoid arbitrary substitutions during the analysis.

Example: health-accessibility Project

Suppose the Project objective is:

Identify settlements with poor access to hospitals in Centre Region.

Start with

Health Facilities
Settlements
Centre Region Boundary

Then ask

Determine which settlements are more than 10 km from the nearest hospital.

This may be enough for a straight-line proximity analysis.

If the objective changes

You then decide:

I need actual road travel time instead.

Now add:

Road Network

and refine the request:

Use the road network to compare travel time instead of straight-line distance.

This illustrates why context can be built incrementally.

The road network was not needed merely because accessibility was mentioned; it became necessary once the measurement method changed.

Do not confuse context with instructions

Resources answer:

What data is available to this Project?

Your request answers:

What should Geobble do with it?

For example:

Context:
Hospitals
Districts
Population

does not by itself specify whether you want:

counts;
accessibility;
density;
comparison;
filtering;
map styling.

You still need a clear instruction.

A useful context-selection test

For each resource, ask:

What role does this resource play?
Is its geographic coverage appropriate?
Is its time period appropriate?
Is it sufficiently trustworthy for this analysis?
Will the Project know which similar resource I intend to use?

If you cannot answer the first question, the resource may not belong in the Project yet.

Quick checklist

Before adding data:

I understand the Project objective.
I know what role the resource should play.
I checked the relevant coverage, date, provenance, and limitations.
I am not adding data simply because it might become useful later.

After adding data:

The required Sources or Collections appear in Project data.
I can distinguish reusable resources from Project results.
My request identifies the intended resources when ambiguity is possible.
I have not attached unnecessary competing datasets.

Before removing data:

I checked whether Project layers depend on it.
I understand that Remove from Project does not delete the original Source.
I checked whether the resource still supports the Project objective.
Important reusable Project results have been saved as Sources when appropriate.