Reference on using the platform

Note

This document outlines the requirements for using the Mapflow platform, including supported data formats, preprocessing steps, and model-specific guidelines.

Requirements for using the platform

Upload GeoTIFF requirements

Note

Please pay attention to the following:

Images you upload are preprocessed in Uint8 format. If your image is not of this type and you want to preview it manually before uploading to the Mapflow server, please use our image preprocessing script or other tools to translate it to the appropriate format;
Your image must be georeferenced in geographic or projected coordinate system, ellipsoid WGS84, it is recommended to use UTM or Web Mercator;
The default limit for file size is 1 Gb for free users. If you have a bigger file – reduce its size or consider switching to the paid plan;
Your image should be RGB composite, RGBa or Singleband;
Maximum image dimensions: 65535 px per side;
Pixel size must not exceed 20 m/px;
Images with a pixel size less than 10 cm/px will be resampled to this resolution;
All images within a collection must have the same number of bands;
Uploaded image will be reprojected and resampled to match the CRS and GSD (pixel size) of other images in collection;
Each Mapflow model has its recommendations for the spatial resolution of the input data, see Model requirements below.

In case of non-compliance with any requirements, the system reports an error. If you are using Mapflow Web or Mapflow QGIS plugin, the error messages are shown in the user interface. For more details, see errors description.

Model requirements

The table below lists model requirements for spatial resolution of the input imagery.

“Required” means that the imagery with resolution outside of this range will be rejected from processing and the request will fail.

“Recommended” means that the model is fit specifically for this spatial resolution. Any images of higher resolution will be downsampled before processing, so it gives no profit to upload higher resolution. Images of lower resolution (if meeting the “required” section) will be upsampled, but the results will not be so good as for recommended resolution.

GSD is specified in UTM coordinate system, and may not correspond to what you see as “pixel size” if your image’s coordinate system differs.

Learn more about zoom and spatial resolution of imagery basemaps.

Model	Recommended zoom	Recommended GSD m/px	Required zoom range	Required GSD range, m/px
Buildings	18	0.6–0.3	≥ 17	1.2–0.07
Forest and trees	18–20	0.6–0.15	≥ 17	2.0–0.05
↳ Height classes	18–19	0.6–0.3	≥ 17	2.0–0.05
↳ Tree crowns	19	0.3	≥ 17	2.0–0.05
Roads	18	0.6–0.3	≥ 17	1.2–0.07
Buildings + Roads + Forest	19	0.6–0.3	≥ 18	0.75–0.07
Open Data	18	0.6–0.3	≥ 14	1.5–0.1
Constructions	18	0.6–0.3	≥ 17	2.0–0.07
High-density housing †	—	—	—	—
Buildings (Aerial)	20–21	0.1–0.05	≥ 20	0.4–0.02
Solar panels †	19–21	—	—	—
Swimming pools †	19–20	—	—	—
Agriculture fields †	—	1.2–1.0	—	—
Segment Anything †	14–20	—	—	—

† Custom model with no published configuration: the values come from its model page, and the exact limits are set when the model is connected to your account.

* Mapflow.ai can also process single-band (panchromatic) imagery, but the NN models are not tuned for such kind of data, so the quality of the result may be worse than expected.

Forest mapping classes

Here is presented a list of classes for the Forest vegetation Mapping Model. There are two options for forest semantic classification:

Classification by heights – classification of the areas of vegetation and shrub vegetation by height classes according to the specified thresholds: 0-4 m, 4-10 m, 10+ m. Forest areas of each height class are polygonized in separate features, the height class is indicated in its properties. Heights thresholds are customizable values in the processing pipeline.
Classification by overgrowth density – classification of the area of vegetation and shrub vegetation into classes according to the density and height: high forest, low (growing) forest, open woodland, and shrub.
CLASS_ID

DENSITY

Description
00m-04m

low vegetation

04m-10m

dense/sparse

medium forest

10m-99m

dense/sparse

high forest

Buildings mapping classes

CLASS_ID

CLASS NAME

DESCRIPTION

OSM refereral tag

101

Apartment building

Roof footprints of the multistorey apartment buildings

building=yes building=residential building=appartments

102

House

Mostly private houses (usually represents a single household)

building=house building=residential

103

Industrial building

Mostly industrial (Plants, large hangars, warehouses, etc.)

building=industrial

104

Commercial building

Offices, retail, etc.

building=commercial

105

Other non-residential buildings

Garages, transformer boxes, small hangars, etc.

Buildings Mapping visualization with ArcGIS Online, Carto, etc

Mapflow Web easily processes imagery and extracts vector objects that can be downloaded in GeoJSON format. We recommend using GeoJSON since it is a de-facto standard in web mapping. It is natively supported by web mapping frameworks (e.g. Leaflet or Mapbox) and GIS software like QGIS or the ArcGIS Suite.

Note

GeoJSON is an open standard format designed for representing simple geographical features, along with their non-spatial attributes. It is based on the JSON format. The features include points, linestrings (Mapflow roads), polygons (Mapflow buildings footprints, forest and field masks), or multi-part collections of these types. Mapflow allows different options for actions with processing results stored in GeoJSON. You are able to download or “Open with geojson.io”.

Interaction panel — Open with geojson.io

Note

Geojson.io allows you to view and save the results in a different format (CSV, KML, TopoJSON, WKT, Shapefile). Click “Save” and select the format in the menu bar.

Using GeoJSON allows you to use only drag&drop to visualize Mapflow output results in numerous Web-GIS without converting data formats. See this video about how to upload and style a building classification results with ArcGIS online, Carto, and Evergis online.

CLASS_ID	DENSITY	Description
00m-04m		low vegetation
04m-10m	dense/sparse	medium forest
10m-99m	dense/sparse	high forest