AirVision’s File Import Tool (Configuration Editors > File Import Configuration) automates data import from a variety of data sources. AirVision allows your to define a template describing the layout of particular files so files can be automatically imported into the database. With this system, particulate and laboratory data can be copied into a folder to be imported into AirVision.

The standard File Import Tool assumes that data is arranged using different parameters as columns and different points in time as rows. This arrangement matches most instrument outputs, filter data sets, and other commonly accessed data. The Advanced File Import Tool (Version 2 of AirVision) is used where each data point exists as an independent row, with columns representing different aspects of that data point (value, null code, sample time), as with air toxics data.

To eliminate the need to create individual templates for each site (to define site/parameter associations), the File Import tool maps columns to Parameter Templates, not any individual site/parameter combination. Thus a single template can be applied to any site in the system. However, you must have a parameter template defined for each column that you want to import, either one of the AirVision defaults or one you add through the Template Editor.