User Guide: Planex Tools

General Map Tools

The main map now includes lightweight GIS utilities for quick inspection before opening any premium tool.

Load Local File opens a compact horizontal menu with Load and Clear actions.
Supported local formats are GeoJSON, zipped SHP, KML, and GPX.
Drawing Tools opens a compact toolbar for point, line, polygon, rectangle, edit, delete, and GeoJSON export.
Drawing supports vertex and edge snapping against uploaded local layers and previously created drawings.
A dynamic metric scale bar is displayed at the bottom-right corner of the map.

Urban Simulator

Overview

Urban Simulator creates a synthetic urban environment from land-use polygons, optional roads, and table-based assumptions. Outputs include buildings, households, individuals, and downloadable simulation layers.

Current Workflow

Open the Urban Simulator panel.
Upload a land-use vector file in Land Use.
Review Column Matching if your source file already contains simulator-ready fields.
Check the Required Land Use Attributes table and revise defaults if needed.
Optionally upload a road file or generate a road network in Road Network.
Review the tables in Table Variables.
Run the model with RUN. Use RESET to clear the simulator state.

Supported Upload Formats

Urban Simulator now accepts several vector formats for both Land Use and Road Network uploads. Uploaded files are normalized inside the application before simulation.

Supported formats are GeoJSON, zipped SHP, KML, KMZ, GPX, DWG, DXF, and DGN.
DWG files are converted on the server before being processed by the simulator.
For DWG, DXF, and DGN, you can upload a matching .prj file with the same base name to provide projection information.
If no matching .prj file is provided for those CAD formats, the interface will ask you to enter the coordinate reference system manually as an EPSG code.

Land-use Defaults

The application preserves original source attributes and only injects simulator fields when they are missing. Urban Atlas 2018 classes are used for lookup, styling, and dropdown selection.

Field	Default Logic
`Zone ID`	Generated automatically when missing.
`Existing Population`	Defaults to `0`.
`Setback (m)`	Defaults to `5`.
`Average Income`	Defaults to `midIncome` for residential fabric classes and `None` otherwise.
`Floor Area Ratio`	Defaults to `1` for residential fabric classes and selected built classes; otherwise `0`.

Table Variables

When a land-use file is loaded, the simulator now supplements missing table values with built-in defaults while preserving all non-empty existing values.

LRS, height classes, replacement cost, school and hospital ratios, household size probability, income distribution, gender and age distributions, and several facility tables can be auto-completed if blank.
Household Size Probability is filled with six columns and the default row 0.05, 0.15, 0.20, 0.30, 0.20, 0.10 when missing.
Distribution tables that depend on the current number of LRS types remain synchronized automatically.
Commercial, industrial, school, and hospital information tables also receive fallback values only where cells are empty.

Road Network

You can upload your own road layer in any supported vector format or generate one inside the application. Generated roads can be downloaded as GeoJSON. If a road-network error is returned, the message now shows the actual source issue in a cleaner form.

Reports and Output Actions

Premium users can open the Urban Simulation Report Analyser directly from the simulator side panel.
Export Analysis Report creates a styled PDF including Buildings, Households, Individuals, charts, and tabular summaries.
The side panel also includes actions for report opening, results download, zoom to simulation layers, and layer clearing.
Simulation result downloads are exported as a ZIP package.

Access Behaviour

Access prompts for non-premium or unauthenticated users now open as centered popups without shifting or blurring half of the map view.

Built-up Change Analyser

Overview

Built-up Change Analyser evaluates long-term built-up surface change using the GHSL GHS-BUILT-S R2023A dataset. It compares observed and projected built-up surfaces inside a user-defined analysis extent.

How to Run the Analysis

Open the Built-up Change Analyser panel.
Go to Draw Area & Analyse.
Use Draw Area on Map to define a rectangular analysis extent.
Keep the selected area below the interface limit.
Click RUN to calculate built-up totals, trends, and centre-of-mass movement.
Use Reset Area Selection or RESET to clear the current run.

Result Outputs

Built-up Surface Previews show the selected epochs used in the analysis.
Area Change & Projection summarizes built-up area in hectares and trend-based future values.
Centre of Geographic Mass visualizes directional movement through time.
The results panel includes an Export Analysis Report button.

PDF Export

The built-up report export generates a styled portrait PDF with a branded header and footer.

The first page contains built-up preview images arranged for readable comparison.
Area Change & Projection includes observed years plus selected projection years such as 2035, 2040, and 2045.
Centre of Geographic Mass is exported with interpretation text.
Paragraphs are formatted in a more report-like style and images preserve aspect ratio.

Access Behaviour

The access popup behavior is aligned with Urban Simulator: non-premium access prompts appear centered and do not push the map into a side-panel state.

Attribution

Official GHSL product page: https://human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu/ghs_buS2023.php

Suggested citation: Pesaresi M., Politis P. (2023), GHS-BUILT-S R2023A - GHS built-up surface grid, derived from Sentinel2 composite and Landsat, multitemporal (1975-2030), European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), DOI: 10.2905/9F06F36F-4B11-47EC-ABB0-4F8B7B1D72EA

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