Initially, the default format for creating and exporting layers is GeoPackage (a geospatial format based on SQLite). However, several other formats can be used for recording geospatial data and many more formats can be used for read-only data sources.
In this view, there are two categories of writable data sources for which the format can be changed:
Default Internal Store Format
Any time a new (local/offline) data source is created in Bit Map’s Layers Library, it will be created in this format (unless another data format is explicitly specified when a new data store is being manually created). This format is used when the automatically created ‘Tracks’ data source for recording tracks and waypoints is automatically (re)created as well as for manually created data stores.
NB: Changing this setting will not affect current data stores, and will not change the current Tracking data store (nor the current tracking or waypoint layers). The data store will need to be re-created after this setting has changed if a different format is required.
Default Export Format
When data sources are shared and sent to other users, this setting determines the format in which the data will be shared (unless another format is explicitly specified when the data is being shared).
If the above two settings are the same, then sharing whole data sources will be quicker, because the data source can be shared directly without having to copy all the data first. However, it is sometimes desirable to have different settings, eg, if the recipient is unable to use the data format that is preferred for outputting data in Bit Map.
Change a Default Data Format
To change either of the above two default data format settings:
- Tap on the format name
- Select from the list of formats that are supported for the setting
- Tap ‘Done’
To view all data formats that Bit Map is able to use vector layers:
- Tap ‘Show All Available Vector Data Formats’
Always Ask…
Turn either of these switches off to avoid having to specify which data format to use each time a new data store is created, or data is exported. If the respective switch is off, then the default format will be used without having to be explicitly specified each time.