Maps & Layers

Layer Actions and Data Specs

Everything you can do to a layer, and the three actions worth understanding before you use them.

Updated 2026-08-317 minutes read
Before you begin
  • A project layer loaded in the Maps pane

Every layer row has a ⋯ menu. It opens under a line reading "Active version: <label>", so you always know which version you're about to act on.

Most of it is what you'd expect: zoom to the layer, open its data table, style it with "Labels & Symbols", control when it draws with "Visibility", share it, or take it out of this project with "Remove from Project" — which leaves the data alone.

"Versions" and "Backups" are the two histories, and "Update Data", "Export Layer", and "Delete Permanently" are the three that touch the data itself.

WMS layers get a shorter menu, since Tamaat doesn't manage their data.

Data Specs

"Data Specs" is the layer's data contract: which field identifies a feature uniquely, how IDs are made for new ones, and whether Tamaat guessed right about the geometry fields.

Look at it before a big editing session, and before you wire the layer into an ETL flow or an API. An identifier surprise is much cheaper to fix here than downstream.

Update Data and Export Layer

"Update Data" takes a new file for the layer: GeoJSON, CSV, a shapefile or a TAB table. The file becomes a new draft version of the layer, with the same name, styling and place in the list. The map keeps showing the current version until you open "Versions" and make the new one active, so a refresh never changes what people see before you have looked at it. Only the person who added the layer can update its data, from the map it was first added to.

"Export Layer" goes the other way, handing you the current data to take elsewhere.

Between them, a layer becomes a stable mount point rather than a one-time import.

Backups

Tamaat backs up managed layers daily. Open "Backups" to browse and restore one.

Restoring backs up your current state first, so you can always get back to where you were.

Delete permanently

"Delete Permanently" asks what you mean before doing anything:

  • "This version only" — just the active version.
  • "All versions in this group" — the layer's whole history.
  • "Transfer ownership" — hand it to someone else instead, when the data should outlive your involvement.

If you only want it out of this project, "Remove from Project" is what you want.

Next steps