Using Collections

why collections matter? collections are the bridge between the gis data you add to a project and the way optioneer’s algorithms actually use that data in routing when you assign data layers to a collection, you’re telling optioneer which gis layers you want the engine to consider when routing without being part of a collection, data remains in the project space but cannot influence routing decisions for example, adding a dataset of protected habitats to the project space won’t stop optioneer from routing through it until you link that dataset to the environmental constraints collection similarly, road or utility line data must be placed into the linear features collection before optioneer can consider them in its routing engine in short collections give meaning to raw gis data by assigning it to specific roles in the routing logic the algorithm only uses data in collections — anything unassigned will not be considered config driven routing depends directly on the presence and quality of collections collection types collection types are pre defined in optioneer and have a fixed data type polygon or line each collection can include up to 80 layers there are three collections that should be used for every project constraints a polygon dataset containing physical constraints that are usually man made for example, buildings, monuments and wind turbines environmental constraints polygon data layers which describe the environment generally, this dataset includes natural physical constraints, geology and zones with designations linear features line data that represents linear infrastructure such as roads, utilities and networks in certain cases, depending on the design rules you have enabled, additional advanced collections may also need to be configured linear features to follow line data representing rights of way such as existing transmission infrastructure, roads or rail used to ensure following behavior access roads line data representing the existing road access network to apply access track costs to towers and wood poles when distant from this network land parcels polygon data representing land parcels used for site selection to ensure sites remain completely within land parcel boundaries create a collection to create a collection go to the project layers tab and carry out the following steps click the manage collection button at the bottom of the collections tab select the collection you wish to add layers to if you are adding layers to an existing collection, select the desired version from the drop down menu on the far right or if you wish to start a brand new collection, don't use a previous version from the list on the left hand side, select the data layers you want to add you can scroll through the list or use the search bar to find them quickly data layers of an incompatible type cannot be added to the collection and will appear unavailable when you have selected all of your layers, click add to collection they will now appear in the list on the right hand side to remove layers from a collection, select them in the list on the right hand side and click remove layers from collection when you have finished defining your collection, you can add an alias to make it easier to track different versions update an existing collection if you already have a collection in your optioneer instance and want to update it rather than start from scratch, you can do so easily follow the steps above, but after selecting the collection type , use the select ⬇️ dropdown at the top right to choose the version of the collection you'd like to use as a base to add layers , double click the items in the list on the left to remove layers , double click the items in the list on the right finally, give your version a name and click create collection