Editable or not — which data can be edited, where, and what to do when it cannot

The question¶

"Can this be edited?" has three layers of answer on Haiyz, and all three have to agree before a feature changes:

1. Can this kind of data be editable at all? That is about the item's shape and state.
2. Has the owner switched editing on, and what do the rules allow? That is about the layer.
3. May this person change this feature? That is about permission and the feature's own lock.

This page settles the first question in full and hands the other two to who may edit and the rules. If you only want the short answer: a ready Hyz Layer can be made editable; everything else is edited by making a copy or uploading a new version.

What can become editable¶

Exactly one thing: a Hyz Layer in the ready state. Not the file, not the item as a whole, but the layer the GIS engine built from a clean version with geometry. Editing is switched on per layer, so an archive hosting three layers has three independent switches.

For a Hyz Layer to exist and be ready, all of these must hold:

• hosting is switched on for your instance (an instance that runs without the spatial database has no Hyz Layers and nothing to edit);
• the version is clean: scanned, with no threat found;
• the version carries geometry the engine could read: a zipped Shapefile, GeoJSON, GeoPackage, KML, KMZ, FlatGeobuf, GML, GPX, GeoParquet or a CSV with coordinate columns;
• the coordinate system was recognised, or you supplied it when the layer asked for a mapping;
• the import succeeded; a failed layer names its reason on the item's Hyz Layer panel.

Any geometry type is fine: points, lines and polygons, single or multi-part. One feature of Hyz Field is stricter: a campaign can feed only a point layer, because a record is a GPS point.

What cannot become editable, and what to do instead¶

Data	Why not	What to do
A Table (a CSV without coordinates)	there is no geometry, so there is no Hyz Layer	add coordinate columns and upload a new version; or keep it as a table and correct it by uploading the corrected file
A raster (GeoTIFF)	rasters are stored and used, never hosted as features	edit the pixels in Hyz Desktop or elsewhere and upload a new version
An ordinary file (PDF, spreadsheet, archive without spatial data)	nothing to draw, nothing to host	upload a new version
A pending, infected or unsupported version	only clean versions are served or hosted	wait for the scan, or upload a file the scanner can read
A Hyz Layer that is queued, importing, needs a mapping or failed	editing needs a ready layer	wait, supply the mapping, or fix the file and upload again
A snapshot version	a snapshot is a record of a layer, never a layer of its own	restore it into the live layer, then edit the live layer
A linked (live) item	it can be switched on, but the next sync builds a fresh layer and your edits stop being the current data	freeze it into a hard copy and edit the copy; or stop the schedule first and accept that a manual sync undoes the link between edits and current data
A published layer that is not yours to manage	you can read it, by reference or by copy	ask the owner to grant you the editor role, or copy it into your Workspace and save the result as your own item
An Open Data source	nothing in the catalog is yours	bring it into a Workspace and save it as an item; then the copy is yours to host and edit
A map layer in Hyz Maps	a live layer reads the item; a copy is sealed	edit the source item — a live layer shows it at once; for a copy, sketch into it, press Update, or Switch to live
A Workspace layer	the Workspace reads; it does not write back	run your tools, then Save as data item as a new item or a new version of one you own
A PMTiles archive in Hyz Desktop	an archive is a rendering, not rows	check the Hyz Layer out instead
A data room	a room bundles pinned versions	edit the item; the room keeps pointing at the version it pinned until you re-pin

Editable is not the same as editable by you¶

The Editable chip on an item says one thing only: at least one Hyz Layer of this item has editing switched on. Whether you may change anything is answered on every request by the server, and shown to you as chips on the item's Editing panel, in the Hyz Desktop sync dialog and in the Field campaign's target picker. A chip that is crossed out carries the reason when you hover it.

Three ways the answer can be "no" even on an editable layer:

• Permission. You hold the viewer role on the item, or your organization role does not carry editing, or a deny was placed on the item for you. See who may edit.
• The rules. The owner allowed updates but not deletes, made the geometry read-only, limited the editable fields, fenced an editing area or restricted editors to their own features. See the rules.
• The feature. The feature is locked, or it no longer exists, or someone changed it after you loaded it. See why an edit was refused.

Read-only on purpose¶

Some things are read-only by design and no setting changes them:

• Locked features. A lock refuses everyone, the owner included, until someone with the lock permission unlocks it. Nothing on a client can lift a lock.
• System columns. The revision, the lock flag, who changed a feature and when are kept by the platform and shown read-only.
• The uploaded file. A version is never modified after upload. Editing changes the hosted rows; the original stays as uploaded, and a snapshot records the edited state as a new version.
• Published service URLs. Tiles and features are read-only views of the layer; edits appear in them through the revision, never through the service.
• Dashboards. Every widget reads; no dashboard writes to any item, map or campaign.
• Shared links and data rooms. They deliver versions; they never accept changes.

A decision path¶

1. Is it a Hyz Layer in the ready state on an item you manage? If not, make a copy or upload a new version; nothing else is editable in place.
2. Is the item linked and still syncing? Freeze first.
3. Is your plan's editable layers allowance free? Switching on the first layer past the limit is refused with the limit named; limits explains how the numbers are set.
4. Switch editing on, set the rules, grant the editors their role. From now on uploads are blocked until you snapshot or switch off.
5. Tell editors where to work: the browser for small corrections, Hyz Desktop for large layers and offline work, Hyz Field for new points collected on site.