How to Create a Source from a Supported GIS File

To create a Source from a GIS file in Geobble, open the Upload my data workflow, enter a title and description, choose the Source slug and an editable Collection, then select the geospatial file you want to upload. Submit the form and Geobble will upload the file and begin processing it.

After the upload completes, you are taken to the new Source. Processing may continue before the Source is ready for preview and use.

Before you upload

You need:

• a supported geospatial file;

• permission to create or add a Source to the account you are using;

• an existing Collection that you can edit, or permission to create an appropriate Collection;

• a useful title and description for the Source.

A Source in Geobble is reusable geographic data. Uploading a file does not merely attach that file to your account: it creates a Source that can later be previewed, used in Projects and maps, and managed as part of a Collection.

If you are new to the relationship between Sources, Projects and Studio, start with Getting Started with Geobble.

1. Open the Source upload workflow

From your Geobble account, choose Upload my data.

You can also reach the upload workflow from the Sources area when an upload action is available.

The page opens the form used to create a new Source from a file.

2. Enter a Source title

In Source Title, enter a concise name that identifies the dataset.

For example:

Cameroon Health Facilities

is more useful than:

data-final-v2

The title becomes part of how people recognise the Source in Geobble, so name the geographic data rather than the local file.

The title is required.

3. Write a useful description

The Description field is also required.

Describe what the Source contains and how it can reasonably be used.

For example:

Health-facility locations for Cameroon, including facility names and available classification fields. Review the source date and coverage before using the data for accessibility analysis.

A useful description can answer questions such as:

• What does each feature represent?

• What geographic area does the dataset cover?

• What important attributes does it contain?

• What should someone know before reusing it?

Avoid relying on the filename to provide this context. A Source may later be encountered independently of the original upload.

Additional catalogue metadata such as provenance, dates, licence information and known limitations can be maintained as appropriate after the Source has been created.

4. Choose the Source slug

Every Source has a slug, which forms part of its stable URL.

For example:

cameroon-health-facilities

The slug can contain lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens.

Geobble can also propose a slug from the Source information using the generation control in the form.

Before accepting it, make sure the slug is understandable and suitable as a durable identifier.

Changing a title later is much less consequential than choosing poor permanent identifiers throughout a catalogue, so avoid temporary names such as:

test-2
new-data
final-final

when the Source is intended for continued use.

5. Choose a Collection

Every uploaded Source must belong to a Collection.

Select a Collection that you have permission to edit.

A Collection groups related Sources and provides important catalogue context around them. For example:

Cameroon Administrative Data
    ├── Regions
    ├── Divisions
    └── Subdivisions

or:

Health Infrastructure
    ├── Hospitals
    ├── Health Centres
    └── Pharmacies

Choose the Collection based on the relationship between the datasets rather than simply putting every Source into one generic container.

Geobble will prevent the upload if the selected Collection is not one you can write to.

The Collection also matters for access and publication behaviour, so choose it deliberately when the Source may eventually be shared or published.

6. Select the geospatial file

Under Geospatial Source File, choose the file you want to upload.

The current upload interface accepts one file at a time and supports the following file extensions:

• Format: GeoJSON / JSON · Accepted extension: .geojson, .json

• Format: ZIP archive · Accepted extension: .zip

• Format: KML · Accepted extension: .kml

• Format: KMZ · Accepted extension: .kmz

• Format: Shapefile · Accepted extension: .shp

• Format: File Geodatabase · Accepted extension: .gdb

• Format: GeoPackage · Accepted extension: .gpkg

• Format: CSV · Accepted extension: .csv

• Format: GML · Accepted extension: .gml

• Format: DXF · Accepted extension: .dxf

• Format: DWG · Accepted extension: .dwg

The current upload form accepts files up to 200 MB.

Format support can differ in what geographic information the file must contain. A CSV, for example, still needs geographic information that Geobble can interpret if it is to become a useful spatial Source.

Multi-file formats also deserve particular care. A Shapefile, for example, commonly depends on companion files rather than the .shp file alone. Make sure the complete dataset required by the format is supplied in a form supported by the current upload workflow.

When in doubt, preserve the original dataset rather than deleting companion files simply to produce something the upload control accepts.

7. Review the form before uploading

Before selecting Upload Source, check:

• the title describes the dataset;

• the description explains what the Source contains;

• the slug is suitable as a stable identifier;

• the correct Collection is selected;

• you have permission to edit that Collection;

• the intended file is selected.

It is especially worth checking the Collection at this point. Uploading correct data into the wrong Collection creates unnecessary catalogue and access-management work afterwards.

8. Upload the Source

Select Upload Source.

Geobble uploads the selected file and displays upload progress.

Do not close the page simply because the upload has started if the browser is still transferring the file.

For larger files, the progress indicator shows how much of the upload has completed.

Once the file upload succeeds, Geobble creates the Source and redirects you to its Source page.

A successful file transfer does not necessarily mean that ingestion has already finished.

9. Wait for Source processing

After upload, Geobble may still need to inspect and prepare the geographic data before the Source can be used normally.

During this period, the Source can appear as Pending or Processing.

Conceptually:

File selected
      ↓
Uploading
      ↓
PENDING / PROCESSING
      ↓
READY

Once processing succeeds, the Source reaches READY status and can expose its processed geographic data and preview.

If processing fails, the Source can instead move to ERROR.

The dedicated How to Monitor Source Processing Status guide explains these states and what to do when processing takes longer than expected.

10. Inspect the Source before using it

Do not move directly from “READY” to analysis without checking the result.

Open the processed Source and verify that the data looks like the dataset you intended to upload.

Useful checks include:

• Does the map show features in the expected geographic location?

• Is the expected number and general distribution of features present?

• Are the geometry types plausible?

• Are important properties or attributes available?

• Does the geographic extent look correct?

• Does anything obviously appear missing, duplicated, or displaced?

For example, if a dataset of facilities in Cameroon appears in the ocean or on another continent, the fact that ingestion completed successfully does not make the Source correct.

The issue may instead concern the coordinate information or the source dataset itself.

A successful upload and a valid dataset are different things

Geobble processing answers one question:

Can this uploaded data be ingested into a Source?

It does not automatically answer:

Is this dataset accurate and appropriate for my intended analysis?

A Source can process successfully while still containing:

• outdated data;

• incorrect coordinates;

• missing attributes;

• incomplete geographic coverage;

• invalid assumptions;

• inaccurate metadata.

Treat upload as the beginning of working with the Source, not as validation of the underlying data.

What if the upload cannot start?

The upload may fail before ingestion if Geobble cannot accept the file or account storage is unavailable.

For example, the current workflow can prevent new storage uploads when the account does not have sufficient storage credits or storage has become read-only.

If Geobble displays a storage or credit error, follow the provided Billing action rather than repeatedly retrying the same upload.

Other immediate failures may indicate that the selected file does not meet the upload requirements.

Read the displayed error before changing the dataset.

What if processing fails after upload?

A file can upload successfully but fail during ingestion.

That is a different failure stage.

For example:

Upload succeeded
      ↓
Source created
      ↓
Processing started
      ↓
ERROR

In that case, inspect the Source status and displayed failure information rather than creating multiple copies of the same Source.

The dedicated Why a Source Failed to Process guide covers the troubleshooting workflow.

File upload vs PostGIS connection

If your geographic data already lives in PostGIS, uploading an exported copy may not be the best workflow.

Geobble also supports creating a Source from an external PostGIS table.

Use file upload when the file itself is the dataset you want Geobble to ingest.

Use a PostGIS connection when the intended source of the data is an existing supported database table.

See How to Connect an External PostGIS Table for that alternative.

After the Source is ready

A ready Source can become the input to other Geobble workflows.

Depending on your objective, you can next:

• add the Source to a Project;

• use it in map work;

• open relevant work in Studio;

• enrich its existing features with additional evidence-backed attributes;

• complete its catalogue metadata;

• combine it with other geographic information.

Do not feel obliged to make the Source public simply because ingestion succeeded. Review the data, metadata, licence, sensitivity and intended audience before changing access or publication settings.

Quick checklist

Before upload:

• I selected the correct file.

• The Source title is meaningful.

• The description explains what the data contains.

• The slug is suitable as a stable identifier.

• I selected the correct Collection.

• I can edit that Collection.

• Required parts of the dataset are present.

After upload:

• The Source reaches READY.

• The features appear in the expected location.

• The expected geometry and attributes are present.

• The geographic extent looks reasonable.

• Important provenance, licence, date and limitation information is recorded before wider reuse or publication.