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Comparing and merging projects

The Compare / Merge tool shows what differs between two projects and lets you copy selected changes from one into the other. It is designed for projects that describe the same site — for example a working copy and the baseline it was copied from — so you can review the copy's changes and bring the ones you want back into the original.

Prerequisites​

  • You must have the Project Read Permission or higher on both projects to compare them
  • You must have the Project Edit Permission or higher on the recipient project to merge changes into it
  • Both projects must use the same spatial reference — comparison is blocked otherwise

How to compare two projects​

  1. Click Projects in the top navigation bar to open the Project Management page

  2. Tick the checkbox on the two projects you want to compare

  3. Click Compare / Merge

    Comparison tool showing source and recipient banner, criteria notice, and the Facilities section with added and updated rows

The banner at the top shows the direction: Source → Recipient. Selected changes are applied into the recipient. Click the swap button between the two names to reverse the direction.

note

If the two projects use different analysis criteria sets, a notice appears below the banner. Criteria present only in the source show up as mergeable additions; criteria only in the recipient are left untouched.

How to read the comparison​

Changes are grouped into sections — Facilities, Project Criteria, Relationship Groups, User Relationship Edits, and To-do Items. Each section header shows counts of additions (green +), updates (amber ~), and items only in the recipient (red −). Every row carries the same symbol, so the meaning is clear without relying on color.

Facility updates​

Updates are grouped under each facility, with one row per changed field — name, notes, layer, front side, shape, categories, attributes, explosives, and so on. Each row shows the old value struck through and the new value beside it.

Facility update rows grouped by facility, each showing the old and new value of one field

A Shape or Front Side change is a link — click it to open a side panel that overlays the previous shape (dashed) on the new shape (solid), with a legend and the distance moved.

Shape change side panel overlaying the previous dashed shape and the new solid shape on a mini-map

Added facilities​

A facility that exists only in the source appears under Added. Click the chevron to preview its key data — explosive weights by HC/D, attributes, categories, and target layer — before you bring it across.

Added facility row expanded to show NEW by HC/D, attributes, categories, and target layer

Items only in the recipient​

Rows under Only in [recipient] exist in the recipient but not the source. Each offers an explicit Keep (the default) or Delete choice, and these rows are never included by Select All — nothing is removed from the recipient by accident.

Only-in-recipient row with Keep and Delete toggle, Keep selected

Match confidence​

Facilities are matched between the projects automatically. A Likely match badge marks pairs that were matched by similarity rather than an exact identity. If a pairing is wrong, click the break match button beside the badge — the two facilities are treated as separate (one added, one only-in-recipient) and the comparison recomputes.

Facility pair with a Likely match badge and break-match button, showing a name difference between the paired facilities

How to choose what to merge​

  • Tick individual changes, use a section header's checkbox to select everything in that section, or use the page-level Select All / Deselect All buttons
  • The bar at the bottom of the page counts the selected changes

Some changes depend on others — for example, a relationship group matrix value can't merge before the relationship group it references exists. Selecting such a change automatically selects what it requires, shown as a requires chip on the row.

A matrix value row with a "requires: Line 4" chip, with both it and the relationship group addition selected

note

To-do items are compared like everything else, but merged to-do changes cannot be undone afterward — the confirmation dialog calls this out.

How to apply the merge​

  1. Click Merge Selected into [recipient] in the bottom bar

  2. Review the confirmation dialog — it summarizes the additions, updates, and deletions, and lists exactly what will be deleted from the recipient

    Merge confirmation dialog summarizing 5 additions, 14 updates, and 1 deletion, listing the facility to be deleted

  3. Click Merge

Siter applies the selected changes into the recipient and opens it on the map.

Recipient project open on the map after the merge completes

Merged changes can be reversed from the map with Undo, except to-do changes. If relationship data changed, Siter offers to rebuild relationships so the merged groups take effect.

What is not compared​

Only the project's facility and relationship inputs are compared. The tool never compares or merges:

  • Analysis results and result sets
  • Relationships generated by a relationship-group build (the group definitions, matrix, and assignments are compared — rebuild after merging to regenerate)
  • Drawings and decorations
  • Project settings — name, description, basemap, and label styles
  • Users and sharing
  • Placement analyses

Troubleshooting​

Comparison is blocked with a coordinate system message​

Cause: The two projects use different spatial references, so their geometry cannot be meaningfully compared.

Solution: Compare projects that share a spatial reference — for example, a copy and its source. To move work between differently-projected projects, use export and import instead.

Two different facilities are shown as one updated pair​

Cause: The automatic matcher paired two similar facilities that are not actually the same (marked with a Likely match badge).

Solution: Click the break match button beside the badge. The comparison recomputes with the two facilities treated separately.