Import data

The sections below include steps that may be required to import and convert data in your project. These steps organize your data in a common format, helping to ensure success in subsequent workflows.

Connect to data sources and add data to a map

It is likely that your data comes from a variety of sources. The following steps outline how to connect to these data sources, organize them, and add the data to the map. If you need to convert your data to feature classes, see the next section.

1. In the Catalog pane, click the Project tab.
2. Right-click Folders and click Add Folder Connection .

   From here, you can browse to the location of your source data.

3. If your source data is in a file geodatabase, right-click the geodatabase and add it to your project.

   Note:

   Adding a geodatabase to your project does not change the location where the data is stored. To do that, copy the feature classes from your source data to the default geodatabase for the project.

4. To add your source data to the map, click and drag it directly from the catalog, or click Add Data on the Data tab and browse to the location of your data.

Batch import data

It is common for data to be provided in formats such as KML, shapefiles, and text files. While these formats can be read directly by ArcGIS Pro, to access full analysis and visualization functionality, these datasets must be converted to feature classes. The Batch Import Data tool converts input data in these formats to a single file geodatabase and is included in ArcGIS Pro Intelligence.

Complete the following steps to convert KML (.kml), KMZ (.kmz), shapefiles (.shp), Excel workbooks (.xls and .xlsx), tabular text files (.csv, .txt, and .tab), GeoJSON (.geojson), and GPX (.gpx) files to feature classes stored in a single file geodatabase:

1. On the Data tab, click Batch Import .

   The Batch Import Data geoprocessing tool opens.

2. For Input Data, specify one or more folders containing the files you want to convert or individual files you want to convert to file geodatabase feature classes.

   Supported coordinates for tabular text files (.csv, .txt, and .tab) and Excel worksheets are latitude and longitude in decimal degrees, Military Grid Reference System (MGRS), and United States National Grid (USNG). The source is searched for coordinate columns in the following order: latitude and longitude in separate columns, latitude and longitude in a single column, MGRS, then USNG.

   Note:

   For latitude and longitude values in a single column, the latitude value must be first, then longitude separated by a space, a comma, or a slash.

   Valid latitude columns are latitude, lat, y_coordinate, y_coord, and y. Valid longitude columns are longitude, long, lon, x_coordinate, x_coord, and x. Valid latitude/longitude columns are latitude_longitude, lat_long, lat_lon, xy_coordinate, xy_coordinates, xy_coord, xy_coords, and xy. Valid MGRS coordinate columns are mgrs, mgrs_coordinate, mgrs_coordinates, mgrs_coord, and mgrs_coords. Valid USNG coordinate columns are usng, usng_coordinate, usng_coordinates, usng_coord, and usng_coords.

   Note:

   The converted datasets are added as layers to the map, where the symbology used on the output layer is dependent on the original source data. For output layers created from KML or KMZ files, the symbology is extracted from the source files and applied to the output layers. For shapefiles where a layer file exists (.lyrx or .lyr), the output layer symbology is extracted from the layer file. For all other types of source data, a default symbol is used. For all source data types, the output layer symbology can be overridden; see the tool help for more details.

3. Set Target Geodatabase to an existing geodatabase where the output feature classes will be stored.
4. Run the tool.

   Note:

   You can also choose from a variety of table to features tools located in the tools gallery on the Data tab that convert tabular data containing coordinates to output feature classes.

   The outputs are added as layers to the map within a group layer named Batch Import <timestamp>, where <timestamp> is the time the tool was run.