Publish to a cloud folder

The folder is the published map. Groundwork reads it each time the map loads, so you do not upload anything.

Folder layout

The folder that you publish holds one .qgs file and the GeoJSON file or files that it refers to:

street-trees/          ← this is the folder you publish
├── street-trees.qgs
└── trees.geojson

Data sources

Each layer’s data source decides what Groundwork does with the layer:

Use GeoJSON for each layer that your users add features to. After you connect, compare the layer list with your project, so that you find a layer that did not load.

When Groundwork reads the folder, it also applies these rules:

• A missing data file does not stop the project from loading. Groundwork skips that layer and shows a warning.
• The project can load data only from the folder that you publish, or from folders in it.

Container folder

If you publish several maps, the usual arrangement is one folder for each map, in a container folder of your own. Do not share the container folder, and do not make a link for it. A link to the container folder opens all the maps in it, whatever the settings of each map folder. On Dropbox Basic and Plus, if you share the container folder, you also cannot give the maps in it their own settings.

Publish the folder

Connect Groundwork to Dropbox

1. Create a map.
2. Under Or connect your own data, choose Dropbox.
3. Click Sign in with Dropbox.
4. Sign in.

You sign in only once.

Find the folder and choose what to publish

If a folder holds project files, Groundwork lists each file. If a folder holds only data files, which are GeoJSON, GeoParquet, FlatGeobuf or raster (.tif or .tiff) files, Groundwork shows Publish this folder. You cannot publish the top level of the account.

To publish a folder that another person shared with you, use Or paste a folder link in the same panel. That folder does not show in your own Dropbox. If the folder holds several project files, select the filename under Choose a QGIS project. To publish a folder of data files, the folder must hold no project file.

Choose who it opens for

Groundwork reads the sharing settings of the folder, and tells you what they mean. If the folder has no share link, Groundwork offers to make one, for only people invited or anyone with the link. Choose carefully, because Groundwork changes the sharing of the folder in Dropbox to match.

Check the map

Before you configure or share anything, press Open as a map. Make sure that your map shows, with its styles.

Public link or private folder?

Make this choice before you share anything, because Groundwork can save your team’s edits only to a private folder.

Dropbox

• Public link (“anyone with the link”): the map opens without sign-in, and anyone who gets the folder link can read the data. Groundwork cannot save edits to it. Use a public link for data that does not need edits.
• Private folder: share the folder with specific people as members with edit access. When they sign in with their own Dropbox account, Groundwork writes their changes to the folder.

    flowchart TD
  A{"Is your map's Sharing setting Sign in to edit?"}
  A -->|No| V["The map opens view-only, with no editing tools"]
  A -->|Yes| B{"Is your Dropbox folder private, and not shared as anyone with the link?"}
  B -->|No| R1["The layers show a padlock, and the editing tools do not show"]
  B -->|Yes| C{"Is the person a member of the folder?"}
  C -->|No| N["The sign-in works, but the map does not open"]
  C -->|Yes| D{"Does the person have edit access?"}
  D -->|"No, view only"| R2["The layers show a padlock, and the editing tools do not show"]
  D -->|Yes| S["Groundwork saves each edit to the folder"]
  

OneDrive

To publish a OneDrive folder, including a SharePoint library, paste the folder’s link into the OneDrive panel. You can browse folders only in Dropbox. Groundwork cannot save edits to a map opened from OneDrive. Saves to OneDrive will be available soon.

What the project file can reveal

The .qgs file is a text file in the folder, so everyone who can open the folder can read all of it. Groundwork reads only what it needs. But a person who has the folder link, or is a member of the folder, can download the file. They can open it in a text editor. With a public link, that is anyone who gets the link.

QGIS writes more into the file than the map shows. Check the file for these items before you publish:

The file also holds the layers that your team does not see. A layer that you switched off, or that Groundwork skips, still has its data source string in the file.

Before you publish:

1. In QGIS, choose Project > Properties. On the Metadata tab, remove contact details that you do not want to share.
2. On the General tab, set Save paths to Relative. The file then holds no path on your computer.
3. For a layer that needs a sign-in, use a QGIS authentication configuration. The file then holds only its ID.
4. Open the .qgs file in a text editor. Search for your name, your email, password and your user folder.

A private folder limits who can read the file to its members. It does not remove anything from the file, so a member can still read all of it.

How Groundwork saves your team’s edits

When a folder member with edit access signs in and saves a change, Groundwork writes the updated GeoJSON or CSV file to your folder. It shows Saved to Dropbox beside the layer name. Groundwork writes only the data files, and never changes your .qgs file. Groundwork does not keep versions of its own. So use the version history in Dropbox as your record of changes, and to go back to an earlier version.

    flowchart TD
  A["You save a change"] --> B{"Has someone else saved the file since Groundwork last loaded or saved it?"}
  B -->|No| S["Groundwork saves your change"]
  B -->|Yes| C{"Did they change a feature that you changed?"}
  C -->|No| M["Groundwork adds your change to their version and saves it"]
  C -->|Yes| L["Groundwork saves nothing from you, and offers you the latest version"]
  

Publish a folder without a QGIS project

You can publish a folder that holds GeoJSON, GeoParquet, FlatGeobuf or raster (.tif or .tiff) files and no QGIS project. Groundwork makes a map from the files that it finds, and gives each layer the name of its file. You choose which layers are on when the map opens.

This takes only seconds, but the map loses most of what a project file holds:

• You cannot make a layer read-only. Only a layer in a format that Groundwork cannot save is read-only.
• A layer has a style only if a .qml or .sld file of the same name is beside it.
• Each layer takes the name of its file, and the layers are in order of file name.
• The layers have no display field from QGIS.
• The map has no opening view, so it opens on the whole world until the layers load.

For a map that is important to your team, publish a project file.

Let a layer hold points, lines and polygons

You can make one GeoJSON layer hold points, lines and polygons together, such as a layer of site notes. Open the file in a text editor, and add a "geometry_types" entry at the top level, beside "type":

{
  "type": "FeatureCollection",
  "geometry_types": ["Point", "LineString", "Polygon"],
  "features": []
}

The list names the geometry types that the layer takes. Use the GeoJSON names Point, LineString and Polygon, in any order. Groundwork reads MultiPoint, MultiLineString and MultiPolygon as Point, LineString and Polygon. The name and the values are the ones GeoParquet uses for the same list. GeoJSON allows extra entries like this one, but software varies in whether it keeps them. Before you edit the file in another program, check that the entry is still there when it saves.

When your team opens the map, Groundwork treats the layer as mixed:

• The layer’s About window shows Layer type as Mixed.
• Your team can add features to the layer, even when it holds no features yet.
• Groundwork keeps the line in the file each time it saves an edit.

If the list holds a name that Groundwork does not read, Groundwork ignores the whole line. A layer whose features already hold more than one geometry type is mixed without the line.

A list with one name lets your team add to an empty file of that geometry type. For example, ["LineString"] makes an empty file a line layer.

Update a published project

Change the project or data files, and let Dropbox sync them. Then:

• The folder link and the Groundwork links that you sent still work.
• Your team sees the changes the next time they open the map.
• New layers show automatically.
• Groundwork keeps each person’s field settings, filters, sort and bookmarks for the layers that were already there.

In a folder published without a project file, Groundwork recognises each layer by its file name. So if you rename a data file, Groundwork treats it as a new layer, and your team loses their settings for it.

Next: Configure the map.