The WEBP dataport imports Google .wepb format files. WEBP is an RGB raster format invented by Google and used for graphics images. It does not provide coordinate system information. When exporting, .prj and .mapmeta files are written. See the Exporting topic. See the Third Party Release Levels topic for the latest version of WEBP supported.
To import from WEBP format:
Choose File-Import from the main menu.
In the Import dialog browse to the folder containing data of interest.
Double-click the file ending in .webp for the data of interest.
A table and an image will be created.
We can double-click on images that are created to view them.
The image is not georegistered and has no coordinate system assigned. It is seen above zoomed in. By default, we can assign it a Pseudo Mercator projection, which is meaningless other than to provide a coordinate system for the pixels.
WEBP can store transparency. If we use the Layers pane to turn off the white background layer for the image above, we see that it utilizes transparency so that some pixels are fully transparent and others are partially transparent.
Exporting an image to WEBP automatically creates an RGB, an RGBA, a grayscale or a palette image depending on the number of channels in the tile and the settings for the image in the Style pane. See the About Images topic for a discussion of different image types. This export functionality is the same as for PNG format. See the PNG topic for examples of how automatic export works.
Progressive reads - WEBP files are read progressively. This makes canceling the process of reading a big file more responsive.
Using graphics files - Images in formats such as WEBP that do not provide coordinate system information can be handy as illustrations in layouts or for other purposes. Manifold project files are so efficient that we can keep libraries of many images for fast viewing in Manifold, even if we do not intend to work with them in GIS. We can also use Manifold to convert images between different formats, importing an image as one format and exporting it as another.