Map Locations

Map raw rows from an uploaded file into the scenario's locations table: every facility, supplier, hub and customer your network refers to.

When to use this

• You're assembling a scenario from raw data and need to declare the places in your network
• Downstream analysis needs a name to attach demand, supply, lanes or flows to
• A map view, Center of Gravity, or distance-based costing needs coordinates

What you need

• An upstream Import Data node (or operation node) carrying one row per location
• At minimum, a column that uniquely identifies each location, a name or a code
• Latitude and longitude columns if you will run map-based analyses

Field mapping

Auto-detection is all or nothing. With no explicit mapping on the node, every field is matched against the headers listed below, case-insensitively, and a space in your header reads as an underscore, so Site Name matches site_name. Set even one field explicitly and detection switches off for the whole node: only the fields named in the mapping are filled, and the rest arrive empty.

Set mappings in the node's panel. Connect an upstream table and select the mapping node to see automatic matches. Choosing a column saves all displayed matches as an explicit mapping. Use Use automatic detection to return to header detection. Required fields without a match are marked in the panel.

Field	Type	Required	Example	What it is	Auto-detected headers
Location	text	Yes	Warehouse A	Location name (unique identifier)	location, loc, name, id, location_id, loc_id
Address	text	No	123 Main St, City, State	Physical address	address, addr, street, full_address
Latitude	number	No	40.7128	Latitude coordinate	latitude, lat, y
Longitude	number	No	-74.006	Longitude coordinate	longitude, lng, lon, long, x
Type	text	No	warehouse	Location type (warehouse, supplier, customer, etc.)	type, location_type, node_type, category

How it works

Each upstream row produces one location record. The records flow to a downstream Create Scenario node, which collects everything and writes the scenario.

A scenario has exactly one Map Locations node. Every other table refers back to it by name.

Workflow wiring

flowchart LR
    n1["Import Data (locations.csv)"] --> n2["Map Locations"]
    n3["Import Data (shipments.csv)"] --> n4["Map Transport"]
    n4 --> n5["Create Scenario"]
    n5 --> n6["Network Optimization"]
    n7["Import Data (lanes.csv)"] --> n8["Map Lanes"]
    n2 --> n5
    n8 --> n5

Common mistakes

• Two columns claim to be the location. Pick one canonical column, a code or a name, and use it across every Map node. New York, new york and NY are three different locations.
• Missing coordinates when a downstream analysis needs them. Center of Gravity and any map view need latitude and longitude. Geocode addresses before uploading rather than inside the workflow.
• Wiring Map Locations straight into an analysis node. It has to flow through Create Scenario first. The scenario is what analyses read from.