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Tip #130: Exporting a Feature Extraction Attribute Map

By Erin Johnson posted 11-13-2020 10:39

  

Good morning TBC’ers! If you use your own feature code library instead of the default one shipped with TBC, and you utilize that FXL in the (semi-)automatic point feature extraction workflow, you may have run into these questions: Instead of just getting the position of the feature, how do I also write the tree/pole/sign height values to the designated attribute fields? Do I need to set it up in every single project? Well, today I will be showing you how to export a Feature Extraction Attribute Map file, or an EXL (.exl) file, to solve the problems once and for all. The EXL file defines how the auto-extracted attributes are mapped to attribute fields in a feature code library. Once configured, you can export it and share it with colleagues and clients, ensuring that they can extract attributes in the same schema as you did. 

 

 

To export an EXL mapping file, follow these steps:

 

1. The first time the Extract Point Feature command pane is opened with your own feature code library, notice the unmapped fields on the left hand side of the mapped attributes list. To configure the attribute map, pick the attribute fields in the Select attribute drop-down list to match the attribute on the right hand side. The two-column section allows you to map a feature code attribute (left) to each of the extraction attributes (right).

 

2. After you have extracted your desired point features and corresponding attributes with the Extract Point Feature command, navigate to the Home Ribbon and select Export under Data Exchange:

Prior to exporting my EXL file, I automatically extracted trees and poles from my classified point cloud dataset:

 

3. In the Export pane, select the GIS tab, and select Feature Extraction Attribute Map (.exl) exporter in the list: 

Optionally, you can change the default name and location for the new EXL file. The default name is the same as the project name. The default location is the project folder.

 

4. Click Export at the bottom of the command pane:

 

With the EXL file exported, the EXL file can now be shared with other TBC users. The exportedEXL should have a new section appended to the end of the file as shown below (I opened my exportedEXL file using Notepad):

 

Now, to import the new EXL file into a new TBC project to ensure consistency when extracting points features and attributes, follow these steps:

 

1. Open the Project Settings from the Quick Access Toolbar at the top of your TBC window, and navigate toFeature Code Processing:

 

2. In the Feature extraction attribute map field, browse to theEXL that you wish to import by clicking the :

 

3. ClickOK in the Project Settings window to finalize the EXL import: 

 

Exporting a Feature Extraction Attribute Map, AKA anEXL file, can be very useful for big organizations needing to use their own feature coding library. I hope this tip comes in handy next time you are working with extracted point features in TBC!

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