Published layers, copies and revisions — best practices¶
A data item you host on Haiyz can be published as a service (Hyz Tiles, Hyz Features,
Hyz Open Standards). From then on there are three ways a map or a project can use it, and
picking the right one is most of the craft.
| Way |
What is stored |
Best for |
| Reference (Workspace → Add data → Published layers) |
only the layer's reference and the revision you saw; the data is pulled from the published view when the project opens |
working data that keeps changing, large layers, anything several projects share |
| Copy (Workspace → Add data → Data items, or a file upload) |
the bytes, inside the project |
a snapshot you want to keep exactly as it was, or data the service does not publish |
| Sealed copy at a revision (a presentation) |
the bytes at one revision, named with the reference and the revision |
anything you present or hand over: it never changes under you |
| Checkout for editing (Hyz Desktop → Browse data items → Check out) |
the live rows plus a baseline; your edits are pushed back on Sync |
data you are responsible for keeping correct — see editable layers |
Make a service¶
On the data item's page, Make a service does it in one step. Give the service a name (in
English, Arabic or both), choose who can use it, and whether desktop GIS gets Hyz Open Standards
(WMS and WFS). If the layer is not online yet, Haiyz brings it online first: the service shows as
Preparing and goes live by itself when the layer is ready. You can close the sheet meanwhile.
- Who may: the item's owner and, in an organization, its publishers — the owner, admin,
content manager and publisher roles, or a custom role that includes publishing. An editor or a
contributor can bring a layer online but cannot make, change or unpublish a service.
- Private or public: a public service answers anyone with its address, with no sign-in. A
private one answers only people who may open the data item and the people, groups or
organization you share the service with.
- A table cannot become a service: a file with no geometry stays a table.
- Every service has its own page under Hyz Services, with its endpoints, a token for desktop
GIS, who it is shared with, and its settings.
Share a private service¶
On the service's page, open Sharing and add a person by e-mail, one of your groups, or — for
an organization's service — everyone in the organization. Each gets Can use, or Can use and
share. Sharing a service gives the tiles and features only: the data item and its files stay
closed. Remove someone and the service closes to them at once; a token they took before keeps
working until it expires, at most a day later.
Archives with several layers¶
A GeoPackage or a File Geodatabase often carries several layers — roads, parcels, points of
interest. When you host such a file, Haiyz lists the layers it found and asks: choose one,
or import all. With import all the data item gets one Hyz Layer per source layer, each
with its own state, its own publish switch and its own reference. The item's page shows a strip
of tabs, one per layer; everything below the strip belongs to the tab you picked.
- Each layer publishes on its own: private or public, tiles, features, OGC, offline archive.
- In Add data → Published layers every layer appears as
item · layer name.
- Unpublishing one layer leaves the others serving; a new version of the archive updates each
published layer under its own reference, so nothing a map references moves to another layer.
- Arabic layer names are kept as names; the reference and the key behind it are always Latin.
How a reference behaves¶
- The project keeps the reference and the revision you saved with. When you open it again, the
layer shows the current published data; if the publication moved since you saved, the layer
says so ("moved to rev N since you saved") — a fact, not an error.
- Tools, tables, identify, filters and exports work on a referenced layer exactly as on any other:
the bytes are materialised into the workspace when the project opens.
- A referenced layer weighs nothing in the project. Ten projects on the same published layer store
the reference ten times, not the data.
- Saving a workspace as a presentation turns every referenced layer into a sealed copy at the
revision the workspace holds. Presentations never follow a publication: what you presented is
what the viewer sees, until you rebuild the presentation.
When to copy instead¶
- You need the data as it was on a date (an audit, a report, a hand-over) — copy, or better,
present it (a sealed copy with the revision in its name).
- The item is not published, or you may view it but the owner did not publish it.
- You will edit the geometry or attributes and the layer is not editable: edits then
belong to a copy, because a reference is re-read from the service. When the layer is
editable, do not copy: edit it in place, in the browser or in Hyz Desktop, and every reference
sees the change through the revision. See editable or not.
Rules of thumb¶
- Publish once, reference many. Republishing bumps the revision; references follow, copies do not.
- Present at a revision. If a presentation must move to newer data, rebuild it on purpose.
- Keep the published view lean: publish the attribute subset the service needs; a workspace
materialises every published column.
- Offline: build the layer's PMTiles archive (Data item → Hyz Layer → Build archive) for
the desktop app or a field device; the archive also carries the revision it matches. An
archive is read-only; to edit offline, check the layer out instead.
- Watch the quota: every materialisation counts as a features request against the publication's
monthly allowance (Data item → Hyz Layer → usage).
Where things live¶
- Data item → Make a service: the one-step way to publish.
- Hyz Services → a service: its endpoints, sharing, name, who can use it, unpublish.
- Data item → Hyz Layer: republish (new revision), the archive, usage.
- Data item → Editing: switch editing on, rules, locks, history, snapshots; editing moves the
publication's revision without a republish.
- Workspace → Add data → Published layers: reference a layer you may view.
- Workspace → Save as presentation: sealed copies at the current revision.