Most Sources are transient. A media plan uploaded for one flight, a vendor's play logs for one campaign - these describe a specific buy over a specific window, and once that campaign is measured they have served their purpose.

A Network Source is the opposite. It describes a vendor's standing inventory: the physical units that exist whether or not anyone is currently buying them, and that will still be there next quarter. Marking a Source as a network is how you tell Mira that distinction, and it is what makes the Source usable for Plans.

Why the Distinction Matters

Planning asks a different question from measurement. Measurement asks what a campaign that already ran achieved; planning asks what a buy would reach if you made it. That means profiling inventory before any campaign exists.

You can only do that against inventory that persists. A Source covering one flight of one campaign describes a set of units at a moment in time, and profiling it tells you about a buy that is already over. A network describes what a vendor can actually sell you, which is the thing a planner needs to evaluate.

So the flag is not a categorisation for its own sake. It is an assertion that the Source is durable enough to plan against, and Mira uses it as a gate: only Sources marked as networks can be associated with a Plan.

Static Only

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Network Sources Must Be Static

The Network Source toggle is only available for Sources of type Static. Selecting any other type disables it, and switching an in-progress Source away from Static clears it.

This follows from what the other Source types are. Digital and Moving data is inherently tied to a window of time - an ad play log records that a creative ran at particular moments, and a waypoint log records where a vehicle was on particular days. Neither describes inventory that exists independently of a campaign; both describe activity, and activity is by definition transient.

Static inventory is different. A list of billboards with coordinates, formats, and facings is a description of physical assets. It is true in March and still true in September, which is exactly the property planning depends on.

Static GeoJSON is likewise not eligible. It is used for bespoke one-off footprints - an arena takeover, a venue activation - which is the transient case again in a different shape.

Creating a Network Source

The toggle appears on the source creation form, alongside the type selector:

• Navigate to the Source List Page and click + Create Source
• Provide a name and an optional description
• Select Static as the Source type
• Switch the Network Source toggle on
• Upload the inventory file and click Create Source

Everything else about the Source behaves normally. A network Source is still a Source: it holds files, it follows the standard static schema, and it can be associated with Campaigns and measured like any other. The flag adds a capability rather than restricting one.

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Not Seeing the Toggle

The Network Source toggle is only shown to accounts with planning enabled. If it is absent and you expect to be planning against inventory, contact your account team.

What to Put in One

Because a network Source is meant to be durable, it is worth loading it with the vendor's inventory rather than with the subset appearing on one order.

Include the metadata you will want to plan against. Venue type and market are the two dimensions Plans group by, so a file carrying venue_type supports far more useful planning than one with coordinates alone. The standard schema covers the fields available.

Keeping it current matters too. Inventory changes - units come down, new ones go up - and a network Source is only as good as its last refresh. Adding a file to an existing Source supplements what is there, so a periodic delivery from the vendor keeps the picture accurate.

Using It

Once a Source is marked as a network, it becomes selectable when building a Plan. See Plans for profiling inventory and reading the demographics it produces.