How to add lines to your map

In our Projection map and 3D map templates, you can add your own Lines GeoJSON in addition to regions and points. You may want to do this to indicate disputed borders, or to overlay your regions with features such as rivers.

Just like your regions, your lines can be supplied in GeoJSON format. In addition to Polygons and MultiPolygons which are used in the Regions sheet, the GeoJSON uploaded to the Lines sheet can also contain Line and MultiLine features. If you upload Polygons or MultiPolygons to the Lines sheet, they won't have a fill and will look like closed lines. That means you can upload any regions to your Lines sheet and they will be rendered as lines.

Unlike regions and points, lines are passive features, meaning that you can't interact with them or supply information in popups. 

In this article

How to add lines to your Projection map

To upload lines to your map, you will need a GeoJSON file. If your lines are in a different file format (like TopoJSON or shapefiles), you can use Mapshaper.org to convert them first.

TIP: Struggling to find the right regions for your map? Check out our GeoJSON repository where we've sourced, checked, and resized various region files ready for you to download and use in Flourish.

    1
    Go to the Lines sheet of the Data tab and upload your data.

    2
    Once you have uploaded your data, ensure the column bindings are correct.
    The Geometry binding should point to the column which contains the geographic information to construct your lines, which should display as a preview of each line in the sheet. 
    The Series binding is used for columns that describe the type of line. You may want to include both rivers and borders on your map. This binding lets you distinguish between the types of lines and will allow you to style them differently later on.

    3
    Now you have added your lines, back in the Preview tab you will be able to see them on your map.

    4
    You can customize the layer position,  color, width, opacity, and dash style of your lines under  Lines layer in the settings panel of your projection map.
    Layer position refers to whether your lines appear on top of or underneath the regions on your map. In most cases, it's likely you'll want to stick with the default of Above region highlights so lines are layered on top, but if necessary you can place them below, too.
    The remaining style settings each have a default setting which you can adjust to apply the style to all lines on your map. 
    • Color: use the color picker to choose the color for your lines
    • Width: specify a numeric value for the width of your lines
    • Opacity: specify a value between 0 and 1 for the opacity level of your lines
    • Line-dash style: choose from solid, long, short, or mixed for the type of line-dash (see below)

How to add lines to your 3D map

To upload lines to your map, you will need a GeoJSON file. If your lines are in a different file format (like TopoJSON or shapefiles), you can use Mapshaper.org to convert them first.

TIP: Struggling to find the right regions for your map? Check out our GeoJSON repository where we've sourced, checked, and resized various region files ready for you to download and use in Flourish.

    1
    Get started with our Lines starting point
    2
    Go to the  Lines sheet of the Data tab and upload your data

    3
    Once you have uploaded your data, ensure the column bindings are correct.
    • The Geometry binding should point to the column which contains the geographic information to construct your lines, which should display as a preview of each line in the sheet. 
    • The Series binding is used for columns that describe the type of line. You may want to include both rivers and borders on your map. This binding lets you distinguish between the types of lines and will allow you to style them differently later on.
    4
    Now you have added your lines, back in the Preview tab you will be able to see them on your map.

    5
    You can customize the  color, width, opacity, and dash style of your lines under  Lines in the settings panel of your 3D map.

    The style settings each have a default setting which you can adjust to apply the style to all lines on your map. 
    • Color: use the color picker to choose the color for your lines
    • Width: specify a numeric value for the width of your lines
    • Opacity: specify a value between 0 and 1 for the opacity level of your lines
    • Line-dash style: choose from solid, long, short, or mixed for the type of line-dash (see below)

How to use overrides to customize line series

If you have different types of lines in your GeoJSON, you can use the overrides boxes to style them differently according to a series column in the datasheet.

For example in the map below, the London underground network is added to the map, and overrides are used to color each line as it appears on the Tube map.

    1
    Make sure you have the correct column bound to Series in the datasheet. This column should describe the type of line, with a different value for each type. For example, it might read "River" in rows for lines that are rivers, but "Border" for disputed border lines. 

    2
    To color the lines by this category, enter the series name in the Overrides box next to Color exactly as it appears in the Datasheet. Next, add a colon : and then the color by its name, HEX code, or RGB value. For example,  River:#0089c9 .

    For multiple categories, enter each series on a different line, like so:

    TIP: Any series that are not specified to have different styles in the overrides boxes will automatically use the default styles you have chosen.

    3
    To set different line widths and opacity levels for each series, type the series name, followed by a colon, and then a numeric value. For opacity, this should be a value between 0 and 1.


    4
    To set the line-dash style by series, type the series name, followed by a colon, and then one of the four style options: solid, short, long, or mixed.

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