Cloud Resource Browser
The iXGIS Cloud Resource Browser is the built-in resource browsing and management center. It manages user data, including vector data, table data, raster data, and files, and integrates geographic data management, cloud storage, GIS metadata, and recycle bin management features.
In the Cloud Resource Browser, you can:
- Upload, download, and delete files
- Preview data metadata
- Quickly load data into a project
- Manage cloud storage space
Data Storage
The iXGIS Cloud Resource Browser is built on cloud servers, which provide core capabilities such as data security and automatic backup. The backend combines PostgreSQL, GeoPackage, and file storage to support the diversity and characteristics of GIS data while providing efficient and flexible resource management.
Table data is stored in PostGIS by default, and iXGIS can also read common table files such as Excel and CSV:
- PostGIS table (
*.pgt): Uses PostGIS storage by default and provides efficient attribute management and spatial relationship capabilities. - External table: Reads Excel (
*.xlsx) and CSV (*.csv) files directly for data import and interaction.
The Cloud Resource Browser uses different icons to distinguish data formats in the file list.
Vector Data
Vector data describes discrete spatial objects (points, lines, and polygons) and their attributes. It is a core data type for GIS analysis, editing, and spatial modeling. iXGIS manages vector data based on the design principle of a unified data model with multiple storage backends, balancing professional GIS capabilities with performance, compatibility, and cloud use cases.
Storage Formats
Vector data can be stored in three formats:
- PostGIS vector (
*.pgv): Uses PostGIS for vector data storage by default. It is planned as a standard format with full support for simple features. - GeoPackage vector (
*.gpv): Uses the GeoPackage file format and provides good cross-platform compatibility. - ESRI Shapefile (
*.shp): Uses the traditional Shapefile format, mainly for data exchange with other GIS software. Because this format is relatively old and has issues such as field length limits and weak encoding compatibility, avoid using it in production whenever possible.
Why use PostGIS as the default vector storage?
PostGIS is the de facto industry-standard spatial database extension. iXGIS uses it as the core vector storage engine for the following reasons:
- Complete Simple Features support Supports standard geometry types such as Point, LineString, Polygon, and Multi* with clear data semantics.
- High performance and large-data capability
- Supports spatial indexes such as GiST and SP-GiST
- Supports efficient querying and analysis of millions of features
- Suitable for concurrent multi-user cloud access
- Deep integration of spatial analysis and SQL
The database layer can directly perform:
- Spatial queries
- Spatial joins
- Spatial statistics
- Multi-table joint analysis
- Strong fit with WebGIS architecture Naturally supports frontend-backend separation, microservice architecture, and permission control systems.
In iXGIS, PostGIS vector data is abstracted as a logical file (
*.pgv), so users do not need to manage the underlying database implementation.
Fields (Attribute Structure)
Vector attributes are stored as fields. Each feature corresponds to one attribute record.
iXGIS follows these field design principles:
- Field types are strictly distinguished, such as integer, floating point, text, and date
- Field names and aliases are separated
- Fields can be added, deleted, and renamed
- Batch field calculation and update are supported
In PostGIS and GeoPackage, fields are not subject to traditional length and encoding limits, making them suitable for complex business data modeling.
Geometry Types
iXGIS supports standard OGC geometry types:
- Point
- MultiPoint
- LineString / MultiLineString
- Polygon / MultiPolygon
Z and M Values
iXGIS supports Z values and M values for vector data:
- Z value: Represents elevation or depth
- M value: Represents a measurement value, such as mileage or timestamp
Whether Z or M values are included is clearly identified in the metadata and affects:
- Editing tool behavior
- 3D analysis capabilities
- Data export compatibility
Raster Data
Raster data describes continuous spatial phenomena, such as elevation, temperature, imagery, and density distribution. It is an important foundation for spatial analysis and modeling.
The design goals for raster data in iXGIS are:
High performance, strong consistency, and analysis orientation
Format
Raster data is stored only as GeoTIFF, not in PostGIS or GeoPackage. It can be exported to multiple raster data formats.
- GeoTIFF (
*.tif): A standard GeoTIFF format that supports multiple bands, pyramid caches, compression, and other features
Why use GeoTIFF?
- De facto GIS industry standard
- Widely supported by GDAL, QGIS, ArcGIS Pro, and other software
- Offers excellent compatibility
- Supports complete geographic information
- Coordinate reference system
- Affine transform
- NoData value
- Multi-band structure
- Excellent performance and extensibility
- Supports internal pyramids (overviews)
- Supports multiple compression methods
- Supports large files and cloud access
- Suitable for cloud computing and block processing GeoTIFF works naturally with cloud computing patterns such as parallel computing, on-demand loading, and tiled access.
Bands
Raster data consists of one or more bands:
- Single band: DEM, elevation, classification result, and similar data
- Multiple bands: Remote sensing imagery such as RGB and multispectral data
iXGIS automatically identifies the band count and clearly displays the following metadata:
- Band index
- Pixel type
- Pixel bit depth
- NoData value
Cells and Resolution
Raster data is stored as a regular grid, and each cell represents the value of a spatial location.
Key concepts include:
- Rows / columns: The spatial dimensions of the raster
- Cell size (X, Y): Spatial resolution
- Extent: The area covered by the raster
iXGIS strictly follows spatial consistency principles in all raster operations to ensure that calculation results have clear spatial meaning.
Pyramids (Overviews)
To improve display and loading performance, iXGIS supports raster pyramid structures:
- Multi-level resolution caches
- Resampling methods such as nearest neighbor and bilinear
- Fast zooming, preview, and web visualization
Pyramid information is displayed as part of the raster metadata.
Data Management
The iXGIS Cloud Resource Browser provides rich and flexible file management features for efficiently operating on and organizing all types of spatial data.
Available actions are dynamic. The action bar displays operations based on the selected files or directories and whether the current selection is single-select or multi-select.
Directory Operations
The following directory-level management features are available:
- New: Create a new folder directory
- Edit: Modify directory properties or permissions
- Copy: Copy a directory and its contents to another location
- Move: Move an entire directory to a target path
- Rename: Change a directory name
- Delete: Remove a directory and all of its subfiles
File Operations
Flexible file-level management is supported:
- Move: Move a file to another directory
- Copy: Copy a file to a specified location
- Rename: Change a file name
File Upload and Download
- Supports file upload and download for data import and export
- Provides resumable transfer to improve large-file transfer stability
View Modes
Two data display modes are supported:
- File view: Displays basic file-level information such as name, type, size, and modified time
- Data view: Automatically identifies GIS data formats, such as GeoTIFF, Shapefile, and PostGIS tables, and displays spatial attributes and metadata
New Data
You can directly create standard data formats supported by the system in the cloud:
- New vector dataset (PostGIS or GeoPackage)
- New table data (PostGIS table)
Data Information
Information viewing is available for vector and raster data.
Vector Data Information
| Category | Attribute | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Basic information | File name | File name |
| Created time | 2025-01-13 10:59:21 | |
| Modified time | 2025-01-13 10:59:21 | |
| File size | 8 KB | |
| Data properties | Data type | PostgreSQL |
| Geometry type | Polygon | |
| Contains Z value | No | |
| Contains M value | No | |
| Geographic coordinate system | Coordinate system name | WGS 84 |
| Datum | World Geodetic System 1984 ensemble | |
| Ellipsoid | WGS 84 | |
| Semi-major axis | 6,378,137 m | |
| Semi-minor axis | 6,356,752.314245179 m | |
| Inverse flattening | 298.257223563 | |
| Prime meridian | Greenwich | |
| Angular unit | degree |
Raster Data Information
Raster metadata includes the following information. This example uses 120E40N.tif.
| Category | Attribute | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Basic information | File name | 120E40N.tif |
| Created time | 2024-03-07 16:27:14 | |
| Modified time | 2024-03-07 16:27:14 | |
| File size | 41.4 MB | |
| Data properties | Rows | 40,000 |
| Columns | 40,000 | |
| Band count | 1 | |
| Cell size (X, Y) | 0.00025, 0.00025 degrees | |
| Format | GeoTIFF (GTiff) | |
| Data type | GISMETA_RASTER | |
| Pixel type | Unsigned integer | |
| Pixel depth | 8 bit | |
| NoData value | (Not specified) | |
| Pyramid information | Levels | 7 |
| Resampling method | Nearest Neighbor | |
| Geographic extent | Top | 40 |
| Bottom | 30 | |
| Left | 120 | |
| Right | 130 | |
| Geographic coordinate system | Coordinate system name | WGS 84 |
| Datum | World Geodetic System 1984 ensemble | |
| Ellipsoid | WGS 84 | |
| Semi-major axis | 6,378,137 m | |
| Semi-minor axis | 6,356,752.314245179 m | |
| Inverse flattening | 298.257223563 | |
| Prime meridian | Greenwich | |
| Angular unit | degree |