Overview
========

GPT (GIS Provisioning Tool) is a GIS automated data acquisition product.

The main objective of GPT is to reduce the effort required to provision
drawings into a GIS system.

In addition, GPT gives users the option to filter data from the drawing and
enhance the output result by adding more information in the form of new
attributes.

GPT automatically imports layer data into GIS databases. The sources of the
layer data can be either:

- AutoCAD
- Excel

The result of the GPT processing is new or modified layers of data in the GIS
database.

.. note::

   GPT does not import basemaps, such as tiled images, to GIS systems.

GPT initially supports Esri GIS servers, but can be extended to support
additional GIS systems such as QGIS, Google Earth, and others.

Originally, GPT was a command line tool with configuration files. Since version
2.0, it has a web interface whose purpose is to make the user experience
simpler.

GPT v3.0 is a web-based system with a server side and a client side. The client
side is simply a browser. The server can be installed on-premises, although a
cloud solution is possible as well.

The diagram below gives a general view of the data flow, from the input files
up to the consuming applications.

.. figure:: _images/gpt_data_flow.png
   :alt: GPT data flow
   :align: center

   GPT Data Flow


Run GPT Application
-------------------

In order to use GPT, a few ``.bat`` files must be launched to make sure GPT's
services are up and running, together with its UI.

From the GPT server, the first thing to do is to run the GPT services. They are
divided into three ``.bat`` files, located at the following path:

``C:\Axioma\batch\services``

Right-click each ``.bat`` file, one at a time, and run it as administrator.

.. figure:: _images/services_bat.png
   :alt: GPT services .bat files
   :align: center

   GPT services .bat files

Lastly, the GPT UI must be started via the dedicated ``start_ui.bat`` file,
located in the root batch folder.

.. figure:: _images/start_ui_bat.png
   :alt: GPT UI .bat file
   :align: center

   GPT UI .bat file